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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27779152">25 Days To SKZ(mas)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/winwinnie/pseuds/jisungtheworld'>jisungtheworld (winwinnie)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Kpop Countdown to Christmas [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - 1990s, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Angst, Asexuality Spectrum, Christmas, Christmas Tree, Epilepsy, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Gift Giving, Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, Mistletoe, Misunderstandings, Narcolepsy, Near Death Experiences, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Phasmophobia AU, Science Fiction &amp; Fantasy, Snowball Fight, hoo boy this is going to be interesting, or At Least an Attempt at Humor, seasonal depression</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:22:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>37,038</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27779152</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/winwinnie/pseuds/jisungtheworld</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A Stray Kids one shot for each day until Christmas</p><p>Come and request prompts, ships and ideas!</p><p>[REQUESTS CLOSED]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Bang Chan/Seo Changbin, Han Jisung | Han &amp; Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han/Everyone, Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Hwang Hyunjin/Everyone, Kim Seungmin &amp; Lee Minho | Lee Know, Kim Seungmin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Lee Felix (Stray Kids)/Everyone, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin, Seo Changbin &amp; Yang Jeongin | I.N, Stray Kids Ensemble/Everyone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Kpop Countdown to Christmas [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1110564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>174</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>148</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. introduction</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Guess what, I'm doing prompts again.</p><p> </p><p>Any ideas will be greatly appreciated (please,,, i'm so low on inspiration at the moment,,,) so please comment any ideas that you have! </p><p>You can comment on any chapter of this fic, or just send me a message on <a href="https://twitter.com/sunnyesque">twitter</a></p><p> </p><p>The rules for prompts are:</p><ul>
<li>Can be for any ship (within Stray Kids)</li>
<li>Can be based around a single member</li>
<li>Can be an AU or real life</li>
<li>NOT SMUT</li>
<li>I'm only writing OT8</li>
</ul><p> </p><p>Thank you!</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>SUMMARY</strong>
</p><p>- PART ONE (ANGST)</p><p>Chapters 3-5, 7, 11</p><p>- PART TWO (ANYTHING ELSE - AUS ETC)</p><p>Chapter 2, 8, 12-13</p><p>- PART THREE (FESTIVE)</p><p>Chapter 6, 9-10, 14-16</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. ghost adventure spirit orb</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>it's very on-brand of me to ask for suggestions, only to immediately ignore them and write some weird first half of a phasmophobia au.</p><p>i'll start writing requests next chapter lmao, just know that there's gonna be at least three random chapters of aus that no one except me ever asked for</p><p>(aka, if i get through this entire fic without writing a dream smp au it's a miracle)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span><br/>
"There's no way this is gonna work."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin's hands were holding the book much too tightly for someone who was a self-proclaimed 'non-believer'. He'd also protested way too much when they'd first asked him to go ghost-hunting with them, and that wasn't even starting on how much seemingly random occult knowledge he'd turned up with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hell, even <em>Jisung</em> didn't know that much about specific types of ghosts and it was mostly his idea in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Although... not that Seungmin had stopped him, for that matter. He wouldn't say that he was personally a believer in the paranormal, but he was open to change his mind at any point. If there did end up being ghosts in the abandoned house Felix had found off Google Maps, great! Seungmin could try and figure out a way to communicate with them or some shit. If not, then it was a much better use of his Wednesday night than he'd had previously planned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beside him, Jisung seemed to be thinking along the same likes. "Dude," he said, looking Hyunjin right in the eyes (and only slightly missing, due to the fact he was wearing night-vision goggles in their very much lit-up van), "For someone who doesn't believe in ghosts, you sure sound pretty scared."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin wasn't going to mention it. If Hyunjin had decided to go on a ghost-hunting expedition whilst being terrified of ghosts, it wasn't any of his business. Felix likely wouldn't have mentioned it either. He was much too busy transferring notes from his phone to the large whiteboard in the back corner of the van. He hadn't looked up once since they'd arrived, although there did seem to be a smile on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Makes sense. He'd been the first one to agree to come along when Jisung had first put the sign up. Seungmin had arrived a couple of days afterwards - not frequenting that part of the university often enough to notice the lone piece of paper immediately. And apparently Hyunjin had only come along because Jisung dared him to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They 'hated' each other, from what Seungmin had soon discovered on the journey here. They'd bickered, proclaimed that the other person was an idiot, and then spent the entire rest of the time trying to stop blushing every time the other looked at them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Hated each other' indeed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm not scared," Hyunjin scoffed, glaring at Jisung. "Don't project your own fears onto me, Han."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung leapt to his feet, immediately taking the bait. "Oh yeah? How am I scared? I'm literally the one who put up the poster in the first place! Why would I have made a ghost-hunting club if I was scared of ghosts?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You have little to no self-preservation," Hyunjin replied. "To put it into terms your tiny brain might understand: you're an idiot."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At that, Seungmin did admittedly have to cover his mouth with his hand to hide his smile. From the three days that he'd known Han Jisung, it was completely true. However, it was ironic that it came from Hwang Hyunjin - who was <em>actually</em> the one who'd agreed to go ghost-hunting whilst being scared of ghosts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're the idiot!" Jisung said, crossing his arms. "You're the one that agreed to go ghost hunting with me to prove that you weren't scared!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin rolled his eyes. "As if! You practically<em> begged</em> me to go along, just because you needed four people. If anything, you're the one that agreed to go with me!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But as amusing as watching them argue was, if Seungmin didn't stop them now, they'd be here all night. He stood up. The van was small enough that even the small movement meant that Hyunjin and Jisung weren't as close to each other before, breaking them out of their little bubble. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sorry to break it to you," Seungmin said, crossing the small van until he reached the metal-wire shelves containing their equipment, "But you both agreed to go ghost-hunting with each other. If you think about it, what does that say?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As predicted, it worked immediately. Both Hyunjin and Jisung were so caught up in trying to work out what Seungmin meant, that they forgot to start arguing again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Felix? How long are you going to be?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix paused. He wrote down one last thing - already nearing the bottom of the board with how much he'd managed to write down - and jammed the lid back onto the whiteboard pen. "Just finished! Come take a look!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All three of the boys made their way over to the whiteboard. Felix's handwriting was large and easy to read, despite how much was crammed into such little space. He'd listed out basic information about the supposed ghost at the top, and then filtered it down into what their basic objectives should be, drawing out little boxes to be checked later. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The ghost's name is Yang Jeongin. It seems to respond to everyone, so we should be good to stick together. We'll use its name to anger it and get some paranormal activity. JISUNG, make sure to write down any evidence we've found in your journal! I'm not doing it for you!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Main task:  Find the ghost :)</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Other tasks:</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>1: Find out what type of ghost it is! HYUNJIN's journal has more information to narrow it down, so ask him if you get stuck!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>2: Get evidence of a room below 10 celcius</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>3: SEUNGMIN, use your camera to take photos of specific events (apparently, we might find dirty water? note to self: don't leave taps on)</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>4: Cleanse the area near the ghost with smudge sticks</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin nodded to himself as he finished reading. They'd been told to do some reading before they'd arrived, so most of the information wasn't a complete surprise. He was, however, pretty impressed with how organised Felix had managed to make it, considering he'd done it with a full-scale argument right beside him. Seungmin told him exactly that, and Felix ran a hand through his hair bashfully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's not that great," he said, holding his phone screen out to show Seungmin, "Most of the work was already done for me. And 'sung already messaged me saying what we should be looking out for specifically."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ah. That did make sense. Seungmin had wondered how Jisung actually knew what the board loosely said, considering he was still refusing to take his night-vision goggles off. It did sort of defeat the point of writing the note for Jisung down, but he wasn't about to question Felix's motives. They seemed to have known each other since forever. If anything, Felix probably knew more about Jisung than anyone else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Cleanse the area?" Hyunjin said, clutching his book even tighter to his chest. "That doesn't sound great. Isn't that like- like to stop the ghost hunting?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's a precaution," Jisung told him. They'd naturally started to migrate away from the whiteboard now that they'd all taken in the information, instead heading back towards the equipment racks. "It's not actually going to hunt, but-" He shrugged, "- Y'know. Just in case your ugly face pisses it off."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ha!" Hyunjin's response was unusually shrill. "If it's angered by ugly things, maybe you should stay in the van."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin ignored them. He took the head-camera that Felix passed him and fastened it around his head, pulling the straps tight. It only took a few moments of fiddling with the buttons on the side of the stap to get the footage onto the computer screen opposite the whiteboard. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Here." Felix adjusted the view slightly, and then took a step back, grinning. He wasn't wearing his own head-camera, despite them having bought four, specifically for that reason. It had been decided that he was going to stay and monitor the cameras - the 'man in the van', as they'd so affectionally nicknamed it. There were security cameras set up across the house, apparently. Seungmin hadn't questioned how slightly strange that was, not when Felix had looked so happy at the thought of being their tech guy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd also managed to set up some even more impressive screens. Opposite the equipment and just above their seats, he'd managed to rig up a projector. It displayed a map of the building - that Seungmin had found by looking through old house records - and then in the smaller corner, four name tags and a currently-empty graph. The large satellite dish of the roof of the van was programmed to pick up any signs of paranormal activity, transmitting them back to the graph. If the levels got too high, they had walkie-talkies that Felix could warn them through. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin had to say, he was impressed. They didn't have any proof that ghosts even existed, and yet Felix and Jisung seemed to be completely convinced that they were going to find one. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He clipped the walkie-talkie onto his belt, and wedged a torch between his neck and his shoulder. The whiteboard had instructed him to take the photo camera, so he picked that up as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm takin' the EMF," Jisung said. "We can come back for smudge sticks later, and we won't need a crucifix. That just leaves... Hyunjin, take the thermometer, since that's one of the objectives. You can have the spirit journal as well. Then I'll take the UV light, and we can come back for the spirit box later."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We're not gonna need all of that, right?" Hyunjin asked, for once not sounding argumentative. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was just as much of a surprise when Jisung didn't reply back snarkily. "We're just lookin' for three pieces of evidence," he admitted, "Stuff like photos don't count, but they're still useful to have. We'll come back and swap over in about twenty minutes, probably."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was strange to think that they were actually getting along. Maybe this experience would be the catalyst to them finally getting along. Maybe if there didn’t end up being a ghost, Seungmin would have to play some spooky sounds off his phone and lock them in a closet together. Felix looked just as surprised, but got over his shock much more quickly than Seungmin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Right," he said, unlocking the van door and revealing the house in front of them, "Who's ready to kick some ghost ass?"</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>i like to imagine that this au ends with jeongin joining them as a sort of scooby-doo ghost hunting team</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. (your bones are always gold)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this is for SUGAkookieTAE93, who asked for 'can you please do a one shot about hyunjin working really hard to get everyone small presents but they forget to give one to him but hyunjin says it’s ok but the members feel bad so they get something big for him? you can make it platonic or romantic'</p>
<p>hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It certainly wasn't easy, hiding what Hyunjin had bought for the rest of the members. </p>
<p>For starters, they couldn't even<em> know</em> that he'd decided to get them presents. It was Christmas after all - of course he'd be getting them something - but it had to be done as secretly and with the least amount of suspicion possible. Otherwise he'd end up with the same problem as he'd had on the members' birthdays, the Christmas last year, the Christmas before that.</p>
<p>The main problem being: that they were all too nosey.</p>
<p>Lat year, Hyunjin had very clearly told everyone that he was going to buy them a present. He'd looked them right in the eyes, folded his arms, and warned them not to go looking for what he'd bought. As soon as the carefully-selected gifts had arrived at the dorms, he'd made sure to wrap them up. That way, no one could open them without Hyunjin knowing that they'd been tampered with.</p>
<p>And guess what had happened? It had taken two days - two days - before he'd entered his bedroom and found Changbin peeling sellotape off the sparkly paper. A couple of hours after that, and he'd managed to catch Jisung and Felix desperately attempting to re-wrap the presents. Even Chan had succumb to curiosity. Hyunjin had been up to get a glass of water a couple of nights before Christmas, and caught their leader standing very suspiciously above the pile of presents with a hairdryer in his hands.</p>
<p>The Christmas before that had been even worse. Birthdays were more of a man-hunt than gift-giving, since it ended up being more challenging trying to hide your gift than actually work out what you were going to buy.</p>
<p>More often than not, someone would bribe someone else into spilling what they knew other people had bought them. Each and every hiding place in the dorms would be checked. It had gotten to the point where they had to order gifts the night before, so they could arrive on the day and not be discovered beforehand.</p>
<p>(That hadn't helped when the other members had gone to the lengths of scouring everyone's emails for deliveries, even going so far as to check their amazon order history.)</p>
<p>This year, Hyunjin had vowed to do it differently.</p>
<p>He'd ordered from his parents account - paying them back in cash, secretly. The delivery had been set to their house as well, and he'd strictly informed them not to let any of the other members in, no matter how nicely they asked. His parents had laughed, doubting how serious Hyunjin was actually being, but they'd agreed in the end.</p>
<p>It gave him plenty of time to find the perfect gift for each member, now that he didn't have to worry about how easy they'd be to hide. He easily spent over an hour for each different person - moving from internet cafe to internet cafe so that no one could monitor his browsing history - and was ultimately more satisfied with his choice of presents than he'd ever been before.</p>
<p>There.</p>
<p>He'd done it.</p>
<p>He'd managed to make sure it would be perfect. All that he needed to do now was to wait until Christmas morning, drive over to his parents' house to pick up the gifts, and get back to the dorms. It was all planned out. Nothing could go wrong.</p>
<p>Leading Hyunjin right up until... now.</p>
<p>He was surrounded by a rainbow of wrapping paper, sitting in what was originally supposed to be a circle with the rest of the members. They'd all opened their presents - and loved them. Just as Hyunjin had hoped (he had spent an awfully long time looking for them, after all), they were perfect. They'd lined up their various gifts in front of them, laughing as the early-Christmas-morning rush of adrenaline began to wear off.</p>
<p>"Right," Chan said, stretching his arms out in front of him, "We should, you know, probably get some breakfast."</p>
<p>"Does it still count as breakfast if it's three in the afternoon?" Minho raised an eyebrow, only to immediately get three balls of scrunched-up wrapping paper thrown at his head.</p>
<p>"It does if you only woke up at twelve," Seungmin told him. Minho stuck his middle finger up in response, and Seungmin courteously ignored him. "But you're right," he addressed Chan, "We should probably get something to eat."</p>
<p>Jeongin was quick to nod and agree. He stood up, deftly jumping over his own pile of presents. The problem was that he ended up landing on one of the balled-up bits of wrapping paper that had bounced off Minho's head. Not expecting it, he stumbled forwards.</p>
<p>Right into the pile of wrapping paper in front of Hyunjin.</p>
<p>"Oh my god!" Jeongin said, jumping back immediately. "I'm so sorry! Did I break anything?"</p>
<p>"Huh?"</p>
<p>Hyunjin looked down to the ground in front of him. Sure enough, where Jeongin landed is only a couple of inches from his own legs. There's enough coloured tissue paper that the floor is barely visible, but the apology is enough that Hyunjin suddenly realised something startling.</p>
<p>"No, you're fine. There's- there's nothing there."</p>
<p>"Your presents!" Jeongin exclaimed, not even half-listening to what Hyunjin was saying. He'd stumbled back into Felix's arms, who was staring at the ground with the same level of confusion as Hyunjin. </p>
<p>"Shut up," he told the maknae, "Hyunjin's right. You didn't land on anything. But-"</p>
<p>Hyunjin swept the paper to one side before Felix could even finish his sentence. It revealed the floor, just as they'd all known, but nothing else. Instead of a pile of presents, the space in front of Hyunjin was completely empty. He'd been so caught up in waiting for everyone else to open their own gifts - so happy when he'd seen how pleased they were - that he completely hadn't realised he hadn't opened any of his own.</p>
<p>That he hadn't been<em> given </em>any of his own.</p>
<p>Jisung came over his shoulder, peering into the mess of paper. "Where are your presents?" He asked, forever stating the obvious, "Where's the present I got you? I-"</p>
<p>His face paled. Hyunjin watched as Jisung gulped, one hand going up to nervously run through his hair. "I definitely bought you something, right? I was gonna buy you something after I found your present for me - so, you know, I could spend about the same amount of money - but..."</p>
<p>His voice trailed off. The unsaid sentence hung heavy in the air.</p>
<p>
  <em>I never found the present. I never got around to buying you one.</em>
</p>
<p>Minho had gone a similar shade of white, and Seungmin and Changbin (who had decided to combine gift ideas this year) were exchanging some very frantic whispers. Jeongin was muttering to himself, whilst Chan frowned. Felix - even Felix, who never forgot anything - was apologising profusely.</p>
<p>"It's fine," Hyunjin said, rather bewildered with how much attention he was suddenly getting "Seriously, guys. I didn't even realise.)</p>
<p>(He didn't want to talk about how his heart had dropped when he finally realised why the space in front of him was empty. He didn't want to think about why his cheeks were heating up, and why his eyes were staring to tear.)</p>
<p>What really mattered was that he'd made everyone else happy. That was the best gift, in his opinion, he couldn't care less about what they bought him in return.</p>
<p>"We'll buy you something else," Chan said, putting whatever food he'd been bringing over down. He wrapped his arms around Hyunjin's body, pulling him into a tight hug. It was warm, and made the cold feeling in the pit of Hyunjin's stomach disappear. </p>
<p>"There's a ton of discounts now," Minho said, shuffling along until he was also pressed up against Hyunjin's side, "We can buy you something even better, since it's all cheap now."</p>
<p>Hyunjin couldn't help but laugh at that. As the rest of the members declared similar intentions, he couldn't help but do anything but smile.</p>
<p>Making them happy was a good gift, sure.</p>
<p>But getting hugged like this? Warm and safe in the arms of people that loved him? That was better than anything they could ever buy him. </p>
<p>(He had everything he could ever ask for right here.)</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. tiny bit of a light</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this one's for E, who asked for 'jisung is struggling with seasonal depression but tries to hide until it gets super bad'<br/>It's a little different, since i'm a bit pressed for time today, but hopefully you still enjoy it!</p>
<p>warning for implied depression</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung could pinpoint the exact moment the hole in his heart appeared.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It had been autumn. He was sat in the window, curled up under a pile of blankets that he definitely hadn't stolen from the other members. Something had caught his eye outside - a bird maybe, or a cat making its way across the pavement - and he'd turned his head to look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The world had suddenly turned orange.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It seemed like whilst he'd been sat there, most of the year had passed. Surely the leaves had been green the last time he checked. He'd have noticed them turning yellow before they reached the blazing inferno of orange and red. He'd stepped outside just the other morning - shouldn't he have noticed the sunset leaching out around his feet?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was, in some way, beautiful. The colours were pretty. They were so bright, so bold and so brilliant that Jisung's eyes had watered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And yet when he'd sat there, his chest was empty. Watching the leaves fall had made him feel nothing. It had been the smallest realisation, really, just a frown as the glass began to steam up. The strange emptiness in his chest had been too heavy to ignore. It'd pulled at his ribs, tugging desperately at his heart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung had watched the leaves fall, and he'd felt nothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And as those shades of orange and yellow had muddied, so had that strange spot in the middle of his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It seemed like it was the size of a penny, at first. He could imagine that, and so that's how he chose to picture that small empty gap. Completely dark, completely devoid of any colour, and it would probably leave the same metallic taste on his tongue that a real penny would. It had grown as the leaves fell, spreading like shadows into his veins.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung was suddenly tired.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All of the time, the changing of the weather seemed to reflect his mood. The winds were nothing compared to the raging temperature of his moods, howling like a gale and shaking up the entire dorm. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The downpours of rain were nothing compared to the nights he'd spent awake, watching his reflection in the mirror. The darkness twisted sometimes, morphing from emptiness to an immeasurable sadness. Try as he might to chase away that suffocating feeling, nothing ever seemed to work. Despite his desperation to feel something - <em>anything -</em> the rain outside was only ever mirrored in his heart. The boy in the bathroom mirror never cried.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A couple of months ago, he would have laughed at the sight of himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He'd felt so- so <em>happy</em> back then. He'd felt like the world lifted itself up around him, that the air held him as he slept, and that nothing could ever truly be bad. He just had to look on the bright side, you see. There was always a bright side to every situation, and the Jisung from a few months ago seemed drawn to such happiness like a moth to a lamp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now, Jisung could barely remember what it was like to feel happy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was always tired. Always sad - and yet sad for nothing and not quite sad at all. His mind seemed to jump like a record at points. Skipping a beat, getting caught on certain thoughts for a second too long. It made him dizzy, and yet the emptiness still wouldn't go away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His mouth was always coated metallic. His tongue was always heavy, his limbs always felt like they were being pulled down to the ground. The dark spot in his chest had grown into a monster, and it was controlling him like a puppet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The leaves had fallen from the trees, and so had Jisung.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>----</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It doesn't go unnoticed by the members for long.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In Autumn, it takes a few moments to notice that his behaviour is slowly starting to change.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minho walks into his room and finds Jisung wide awake. Not that strange, except for the fact that it's currently 3AM and Minho's pretty sure that Jisung is usually asleep by this time normally. He's the type of person who needs a lot of rest, and then spends even longer just curled up in bed. His bedcovers are like his second home. So it's strange to see that he's awake, and even stranger to see that he's completely without his second-skin of blankets. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After standing - watching in confusion for a few seconds, since Jisung hasn't seen him yet - Minho shrugs it off. It's one night. He'll be fine, even if he is a bit tired the next day. Probably just some National Geographic documentary that got a bit scary, and now he can't sleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn't know that Jisung lies awake almost every night now, and that the winter nights only make his insomnia worse. It's still just as hard for him to leave the warmth of his duvet - if not even harder - so no one suspects a thing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the weekly 2000 movie night comes around, Felix can't help but notice that Jisung doesn’t seem like he wants to be there. They let him go, let him leave without putting up a fight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But then Jisung doesn't want to join in the next week, or the week after that, or the week after that. "I don't understand," Felix tells him, hoping that he sounds just as confused as he is in reality, "You love movie night! It was your idea, it's literally your turn to choose the film!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung shrugs, pulls his blankets up higher around his chin. He'd pulled them around him as Felix had entered. Anything to hide the growing hole in his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't know," he tells Felix, "I'm just not in the mood right now. Maybe next week."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It works. Felix leaves, with Jisung's words still playing on his mind, but they don't stay there for long. Soon enough, the sound of the TV drowns out any concerns he might have had. If an hour later, he stops and thinks that there was something he'd forgotten - he's <em>sure </em>of it - well, it's none of Jisung's business.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jeongin is the one that shares a room with Jisung, so it makes sense that he's the one to notice his change in eating habits. And not because it's concerning, but just because it's strange.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He's eating a lot more bread.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's so strange that Jeongin almost doesn't realise it, until the dorm runs out of slices for sandwiches for the third time that week, and he suddenly remembers all the times he's caught Jisung snacking. Carbohydrates, it seems to be mostly. Not that Jeongin can blame him (he just wishes that he could eat that much and not put on any weight, goddamn genetics). </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shrugs it off in the end. Thinking about bread isn't going to make any more of it appear. Instead, he starts thinking about what he can have for lunch instead, and that proves as a very effective distraction. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the same time that December arrives, Changbin notices that Jisung seems to be getting more agitated recently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's a strange throw-back to when they were younger, and fourteen-year-old Jisung were nothing short of a hurricane. He blows through the dorm with all the intensity of one now, and never seems to be forgiving. Everything is either wrong or right - and they're almost never right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Changbin frowns to himself, and decides that Jisung is going through... second puberty or something. That would make sense, right? He mentions it to Chan at some point, and then doesn't notice how the frown on Chan's face deepens.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan remembers Minho offhandedly mentioning that he'd seen Jisung awake a couple of nights. He sees the bags beneath Jisung's eyes as well, and he doesn't just shrug it off to National Geographic. He remembers Hyunjin and Seungmin celebrating that they got to choose one more film for themselves, even though it was supposed to be Jisung's turn.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He remembers Jeongin complaining about a lack of bread, and now- now Changbin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan doesn't forget as easily. He doesn't get distracted, and he certainly doesn't leave Jisung alone any longer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Seasonal depression," he says, under the warm covers that have stolen Jisung from the rest of the world. The skies are grey and the clouds are heavy with snow. The air is thick with frost, and the hole in Jisung's heart seems to swallow up everything except for Chan. "We'll get you through it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung had faded like the leaves in autumn. He's stayed weak in winter, freezing out onto the cold pavement and barely able to lift his head out of the void inside of him. Chan holds his hand out, however, like the dawn of spring.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We'll get you through it," he repeats.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There are new green shoots of life on the branches of the tree out of his window.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. only if you want to</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this is for comeINandSTAY, who asked for 'seungmin and jeongin go out to grab food/gifts for everyone but want it to be a surprise so don't tell anyone, and then when they don't come back in an hour the hyungs start freaking out, but jeongmin just stopped to eat at a cafe or smthn? and then the hyungs find out where they are in a really weird way'</p>
<p>again, i had to edit the prompt slightly, since i was running out of time. i hope it's still okay! enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"Innie?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sound of Seungmin's voice had Jeongin sitting up straight away on instinct. It was the tone, mostly, the sing-song melody to the way he called Jeongin's name triggering his fight-or-flight instinct. After so many years of living in the dorms together, he'd grown wary to how people sounded when they spoke to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If Chan's voice was flat, that meant he was mad. Hyunjin and Jisung both tended to yell when they were annoyed (especially with each other). If Changbin’s aegyo - if it could even be called that, since Jeongin would never find it cute in a million years - was a little more strained than usual, they'd all make sure to react in just the way he wanted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Likewise, if Seungmin called out his name like <em>that</em>, it meant he wanted to cause some mischief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Moving - wherever, without even thinking, no matter who'd called his name in that tone - usually gave him just enough time to make a quick getaway. He'd gotten quite good at rolling out of the way of Seungmin's hugs, and lately was even managing to dodge Minho's butt-smacks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fight-or-flight instinct, he told himself. He refused to think about it like Pavlov's dogs. That would give Seungmin too much satisfaction.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And in this case, his instincts had completely betrayed where he was. He'd been mostly hidden by the back of the sofa before, just blending in with the cushions. Seungmin would have found him eventually, but he almost might have given up or gotten distracted. Neither of those options seemed likely, but still. It was enough to hope. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as he'd sat up, however, the bright blue colour of his hair had acted like a signpost. Seungmin had zero-ed in on him, pushed him down face-first into the fabric, and was now sat on his back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?" Jeongin asked, voice slightly muffled. The feeling of Seungmin's hands hitting his back was much more relaxing than he'd ever admit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seungmin tutted, pausing his actions. "That's no way to speak to your hyung, Innie," he chastised, finishing up with one last smack. "I was just on my way to ask you if you wanted to eat, and this is how you treat me? I'm hurt."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"<em>This</em> is how you ask me if I want to go eat?" Jeongin wriggled around a bit, hoping that the motion would express his discomfort. Either it didn’t, or - more likely - Seungmin just completely ignored it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well? Do you?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jeongin stopped to think about it. The weather was pretty terrible, so that wouldn't be something to look forward to. The skies had been grey for the past couple of weeks, and didn’t seem like they'd be changing back any time soon. The leaves had fallen off the trees as well, and the streets would be crowded with people trying to do last-minute Christmas shopping.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hang on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It would be nice, thinking about it, to see all the decorations and lights. They hadn't been out shopping much this year either, and so Jeongin hadn't had much of a chance to take in the so-called 'magic of Christmas'. He also hadn't actually bought some of his Christmas presents yet. Maybe he'd been too hasty with his judgement earlier, and it wouldn't be such a bad idea to join the crowds of other panicking people. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sure." Before Seungmin could interrupt with a surprised noise, Jeongin managed to free one of his hands. He held up a single finger, stopping Seungmin in his tracks. "But I want to go gift shopping as well."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Aw," Seungmin leant back, causing Jeongin to squeak as his weight shifted. Thankfully, his agreement was all it took for him to climb off of his back. There were about three seconds of bliss - no weight on his back, no Seungmin drumming on his shoulder blades, finally being able to breathe properly again - before he'd been pulled up into a sitting position again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Now?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seungmin rolled his eyes. "<em>Yes</em>, now. If you wanna go gift shopping, we should do it now, before it gets too busy. Plus, if we stop for food afterwards, we'll have missed all of the crowds."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As much as Jeongin hated to admit it, he had a point. It was their worst nightmare - being recognised. They would already have to wear masks to hide their identities, and having less people around to potentially identify them had got to be a bonus. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It must have shown on his face, since Seungmin grinned. "Come on then," he said, "You've got your phone on you, right? If we leave now, we won't even have to take any of the other members with us."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If Jeongin wasn't already convinced enough, the thought having to take any of the others with them sent a shiver down his spine. He patted his pocket, feeling the outline of his phone, and stood up, cracking his fingers. "Let’s get a move on, then."</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>--- </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Seungmin's phone is on charge."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minho's voice echoed around the dorm, but only made Chan's heart sink a little further. If Seungmin's phone was here, that means that they had no way to contact him. Jeongin was there with him - and that was a big if - he was now their last chance on finding out what had happened.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan still wasn't completely sure himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He'd gotten back to the dorms with the rest of the members, after spending most of the day practicing rap for their next album. Only Seungmin and Jeongin hadn't gone along - they'd had a pretty rough vocal training lesson the previous day, apparently, and Chan was more than happy to give them a couple of hours rest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn't expect them to get up to much. Winter had well and truly sunk into the streets of Seoul, leaving the sky washed-out and the pavement sparkling with frost. He couldn't stand outside for more than a couple of seconds without losing feeling in his fingers, and most of the other members agreed that it was best to stay inside at the moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was where he'd expected to find the two youngest members. Inside, safe and sound, probably napping or playing computer games.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, they'd been greeted with complete silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not even a note had been left. Chan had tried to call Seungmin's phone - just out of curiosity, and definitely not so he could work out whether he could persuade them to get take-out for the rest of the members - except... </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It hadn't gone through. They'd tried for a while, with no luck. After what had seemed like hours, Minho had finally stood up with an idea. Sure enough, the phone had been in Seungmin's room charging the entire time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Call Jeongin again," Changbin said. They'd congregated in the living room, no one comfortable enough to go back to their bedrooms when the two youngest members were missing. They all had the same feeling of uncertainty in their stomachs, the same worry causing them to bite their bottom lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Anything could have happened.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It didn't seem like anyone had broken in - really, that was just too unlikely - but Chan couldn't stop his mind from racing. They would have told him if they were going out, right? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's been an hour." Jisung was lying across the arm of the sofa, a display of nonchalance on his face. It was all an act, Chan knew. Hyunjin was doing the exact same thing a couple of feet away, whilst Felix looked like he was about to burst into tears any second now. "He's not going to pick up now."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's worth a shot!" Changbin argued back, but something else had gotten Chan's attention.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Shut up."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Changbin and Jisung turned to him, ready to argue back, but then they heard it too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sound of laughter, the sound of voices. Before anyone could ask what it was, the door to the dorm was opening. Jeongin stepped into the hallway, pulling his coat off with what seemed like the loudest sound ever, stamping his feet to get rid of the snow that had collected on the soles. Seungmin was right behind him, ladened down with several full plastic bags. One of them was steaming, Chan couldn't help but notice, filling the dorm with the smell of Chinese take-out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neither of them had looked up to see the group of boys staring at them from the living room, until-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Woah." Seungmin took a step back upon seeing the expressions on their faces. "Did we miss a meeting or something?" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Silence. His own face dropped, quickly realising that they weren't in the mood for joking around.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Innie," Chan said slowly, "Where's your phone?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Slowly, Jeongin's expression morphed from one of confusion to absolute dread. He slowly hung his coat up, and then reached into his back pocket. The screen wasn't facing them, so Chan didn't know what he was seeing, but he could make a good guess. "It's dead."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We were so worried!" Felix stood up, shattering what had quickly formed as a dead silence. "We thought- I don't know, that you'd been murdered or something!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The guilt on Jeongin and Seungmin's faces spoke for them. Luckily, Chan was more caught up in the immediate relief of not having to phone up JYP and tell him that he'd lost two members of the group to be mad. He sank down into the sofa, a direct parallel to Felix's action. "Oh my god. You're okay."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We're okay," Seungmin confirmed. "We just went out to go shopping, and ended up stopping for a little while at a cafe as well. Sorry."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We bought Chinese food?" Jeongin took one of the plastic bags from Seungmin and held it out to the crowd, rather sheepishly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Really, Chan should have been mad. He should have warned them, he should have taken the bags and then given them a stern talking-to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could see the expressions on their faces. The guilt, the shock and realisation that they'd messed up. Really, telling them off wasn't needed. They knew what they'd done wrong. They weren't likely to make the same mistake any time soon. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, he smiled. It was enough. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You can do the washing-up," he told them. "No complaining." They had some Chinese take-out to eat, after all. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. baby, won't you look out?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this is for Ramencat5, who asked for 'hanlix having an early morning snowball fight because one of them woke up and the outside world was covered in white? And then the rest of skz wake up to see them outside and join in (after dragging chanlix inside for breakfast ofc)'</p>
<p>hope you like it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span><br/>"Felix, look!" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Felix didn't look up, not immediately. His switch was in his hands, and he was <em>concentrating</em>, goddamnit. He'd already beaten Breath of the Wild before, but that didn't make the battles any less important the second time around. If anything, they were <em>more</em> stressful. Whatever Chan wanted to get his attention for could wait.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Felix!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Just a minute." Felix's tongue poked out the side of his mouth. He didn't realise - he was concentrating pretty hard, after all - and he didn't see Chan roll his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Surely, it was too early in the morning for this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan and Felix had only just gotten back from visiting Sydney for pre-Christmas activities. There had been to many comeback preparations in January for them to actually go home for the 25th, and so they'd been given a week in mid-December to go home instead. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In some ways, it worked out better that way. None of the pre-Christmas rush had hit the shops yet, meaning they managed to avoid all of the crowds. As well as celebrating with their families, they also got to have Christmas with the other members. In more than some ways, it was the best of both worlds. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The jet-lag, however, was an entirely different story.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They'd been foolish enough to think that napping on the plane back to Seoul wouldn't have much of an effect. They travelled from country to country all the time. Why would this be any different?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neither of them had stopped to think about the fact that they hadn't actually flown for a while. And then the flight had been shifted forwards a few days - due to predicted bad weather for the next couple of weeks. The trip had been cut short in order to make sure they made it back to South Korea with enough time to prepare. Instead of having a day of rest before flying, like normal, they'd ended up flying bone-tired in the middle of the day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan had actually been the one to fall asleep first. Maybe Felix could pin all of the blame onto him. If he hadn't followed the example of the leader - the leader who'd been the irresponsible one, and made falling asleep look so goddamn good - then they wouldn't be in this situation now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They'd ended up napping. And then those naps had ended up being less 'forty minutes, so they were more awake for the landing' than 'oh god, we accidentally slept for ten whole hours'. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And since they'd gotten all their sleep in the middle of the day, they were now both wide-awake at 3:00 AM.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's<em> always</em> just a minute. There's a pause button for a reason, Lix."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not that it mattered. Felix got Link to swing his sword one last time, and the enemy melted into dust on his screen. Sighing, he shifted in his seat. He was warm, here. They'd pulled blankets into the living room and piled them onto the sofa, so the flashing lights of his game and the sound of their conversation didn't disturb the other members. The dorms were<em> cold</em>. He'd managed to get the blankets into the optimal position for gaming, and he wasn't about to sabotage his own efforts right away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Chan just wouldn't shut up. He had his puppy-dog eyes on, the kind he gave Felix when the younger man was about to win in a game of UNO, or when there was only one brownie left. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He saved quickly, and turned the switch off with even more speed. "What is it?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Look!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan's face was lit up, and not by the light in the dorm. The light illuminating his features was much paler than that, and... swirls? There were patterns down his cheeks, and his eyes were glowing with a child-like wonder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All of the protests Felix was planning to make die in his throat. Suddenly, he couldn't care less about the blankets pooling around his side. He practically threw them off in his rush to spin around, hanging off the arm of the sofa and facing the window that Chan had been staring at.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Chan! Chan, look!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Deep down, this was what he'd been both expecting and hoping for. The swirls on Chan's cheeks were too familiar to be anything else. The joy in his expression, the way he'd dared to get between Felix and his game, it couldn't have been anything else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The world outside was completely covered in white.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a thick layer of snow covering the ground. The tree outside their dorm was heavy with the stuff, branches practically drooping with the weight of it. The sky was pitch black still, only illuminating the fact that it was s<em>till snowing heavily</em>. Thick, fat flakes were drifting down, a beautiful cascade of white and streetlight-stained yellow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan pushed the last of the blankets off the sofa, crawling up until he was right beside Felix. "I am looking. I was the one that told you it was snowing in the first place, idiot."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Felix scoffed. He couldn't quite tear his eyes away from the world in front of him, but he could still fire back a comment. "If I'm an idiot, I'm sure I don't have the exact same idea as you right now."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a pause as Chan tried to work out what he meant. Then- "Snowball fights?" - and Felix grinned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You better take that insult back, then."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn't need to. They looked at each other, and then immediately flew off the sofa in a rush of blankets, cushions, and attempts to shove each other out of the way. Chan grabbed his winter coat off the hanger whilst Felix pulled on some thick socks, sliding his feet into a pair of boots. He wasn't 100% sure that they were his, but that didn't matter. Chan had definitely grabbed Minho's boots as they swapped places.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Gloves?" Felix asked, and Chan pointed to a wicker basket shoved under a shelf. It was easy to find two pairs, and even easier to throw Chan a scarf and a hat. They were good quality items, properly waterproof and everything. Felix had taken part in too many snowball fights with woollen gloves to ever make that mistake again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan stopped him before they could actually step out of the door to the apartment. "Are your legs going to be okay like that?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Felix looked down. Unlike Chan, who was wearing some thick trousers, Felix's legs were only clad in a thin pair of jogging bottoms. "Uh," he said, only stopping to think about it for a second, "I'll be fine. I've got like three pairs of socks on, <em>and </em>this is Jeongin's good jacket." He waited just long enough for Chan to start nodding his agreement before adding, "Besides, it won't take too long for me to kick your ass."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With that, he was out of the door in a flash. Chan couldn't yell after him - the door was open, and they couldn't risk waking anyone else in their corridor up - and so Felix was free to leave, cackling the whole way down the stairs. If he got ahead now, he could easily have a few snowballs made by the time Chan eventually got outside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was his plan. Opening the front door to the complex hit him with a wave of freezing air, but that only made the grin on his face grow even wider. He jumped down the step, skipping a few paces out into the pavement and immediately starting to scoop up the snow from around his feet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was deep, much deeper than it looked from inside. There were definitely a good couple of inches already, and the snow didn't look like it was about to let up anytime soon. Already, the dents in the snow Felix had made by creating his first few snowballs was beginning to fill up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon enough, Chan appeared behind the glass of the door. He put his hands on the window, raising his eyebrows at the obvious snowball hidden behind Felix's back. He had no choice but to open the door, however - at which Felix immediately got him right in the head. Chan shrieked - no point in staying quiet when there was no one awake to hear him.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They stayed like that for a while - maybe about twenty minutes. Almost too absorbed in having fun to notice the rest of the members standing in the doorway to their apartment block, wrapped up in thick blankets and with raised eyebrows.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey!" Minho shouted, getting Felix and Chan's attention easily. "Did you not want to invite us?" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We didn't think you'd be awake," Chan said, dropping the snowball he'd been half-way through making and sheepishly smiling. As far as Felix could see, they were all in various degrees of half-awake. Whoops.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are nowhere near as quiet as you think you are," Seungmin told them. And then- "Have you even had anything to eat?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's 4 AM?" Felix questioned, hoping that he wasn't missing something incredibly obvious here. They hadn't been outside for <em>that </em>long, had they?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And?" Minho leant out, grabbing Felix by his sleeve and pulling him closer to the warmth of the building. "Get in here so I can shut the door. It's freezing out there." Once Chan had kicked the last of the pre-made snowballs away and stepped inside as well, he continued. "I know for a fact that neither of you have eaten anything for the last... four, five hours. Go and get some breakfast you heathens."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, he did have a point. Felix hadn't even noticed that his stomach was growling at him until Minho had pointed it out. He'd been so disorientated from being awake in the middle of the night that he hadn't even considered that he might need to eat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, at the same time-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Can we go out and continue our fight later?" He asked on the way back to the stairs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was immediately met by whoops, at least two people making 'duh!' sounds at the same time. "Are you kidding?" Changbin said, pushing Chan to make him walk a little quicker, "We're gonna whoop your asses!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Felix's grin only grew wider.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. you can't fight it, you can't breathe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>for JiminWreckedSugaBias, who requested 'they all go to a beach in australia and felix and hyunjin dare each other to jump off the dock and felix goes a little deeper than he intended and he inhales water before he's able to get up to the surface and chan saves him'</p>
<p>i have no idea how sea temperatures work. don't think about the accuracy of this too much</p>
<p>and as you can probably tell from the prompt:<br/>WARNING for implied almost-drowning</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span><br/>The best part about Australia is that the sea water is <em>warm</em>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Felix isn't talking about lukewarm, either. On days like this - where the sun is shining and he wouldn't be surprised to find out that the entire country has been shoved in a microwave - it's like stepping into a bath. He can almost imagine that he'd being cooked alive. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>You know - that joke, where a witch is throwing potatoes into a soup (that he's definitely not being boiled alive in) and he's eating them as fast as she adds them? You know, that's exactly how Felix feels right now. Floating in the warm water, eyes shut, no cares in the world. Even if a witch was trying to boil him alive, he's not sure that he'd complain.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He's been away from Australia for too long, he decides.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There's no way he used to care about the temperature of the sea that much. He didn't even used to care about the ocean - he'd lived in Sydney for too long, it was simply just another part of life. They went and visited every so often, but the beaches hadn't seemed like anything special. If anything, he'd been <em>reluctant</em> to get in the water most of the time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then he'd moved to Seoul. Seoul didn't have any beaches. It was cold and unfamiliar and strange, and the water of the river that ran through the city was murky. He'd dipped his toe in once, and immediately regretted it. Hell, he hadn't even known that water could get that cold. And even when they'd visited South Korea's actual beaches, it hadn't been the same. Maybe it was the homesickness speaking for him, but there was nothing like the beaches of Australia.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And now that he's here again, he'd gonna make sure to appreciate them properly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the members don't seem to agree. Even with his eyes shut, he can't relax. The water behind him is full of shrieks and splashes, sending huge waves over to Felix and disturbing his peace. From what he's managed to gather - simply from listening - Jisung and Minho seem to have teamed up on everyone else. They'd brought some water guns with them, apparently. Felix isn't really sure why that should matter - they'd literally in the sea already, it's not like they don't want to get their clothes wet or anything - but it seems to have sparked an uprising.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After one particularly large wave leaves Felix accidentally swallowing some water, he gives up on appreciating the fact he's home. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(In some ways, home is with the other members. In some ways, he can appreciate everything a little bit more, just because he's with them)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wades over towards them. Hyunjin is the closest, and so Felix makes sure that he causes as little ripples in the sea as possible. The lull of the waves hides his movement. Sure enough, he gets close enough to jump onto Hyunjin's back, cackling evilly when he screams. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's just me!" He says, when Hyunjin is still flailing his arms a couple of seconds later.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan had been watching him sneak up, and is bent double with laughter. He might even be crying with how funny he'd found it, but it's hard to tell with the ocean around them. Jeongin takes the opportunity to shoot him with one of the water guns - stolen from Jisung, by the looks of it - and that seems to cause a whole other chain reaction of anarchy. Teams seem to be made as quickly as they're dissolved. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Somehow, Felix reckons that if he decided to join in, they'd all spontaneously gang up on him. He slips on Hyunjin's back and angles the taller man towards the main area of the fight, effectively using him as a body shield.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey!" Hyunjin cries, when he works out what Felix is trying to do, "First you scare the life out of me, and then you use me as a shield?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's your own fault for growing so tall," Felix tells him, and Hyunjin immediately shrieks in response. He turns around, grabbing Felix by the arm. Together, they end up wresting in a mock-fight all the way to the shore. Hyunjin has sand in his hair, but he's laughing. Felix's knees are red from where he'd skidded across the sand, but his smile stubbornly refuses to leave him face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Out of breath and giddy with excitement, he can't help the next words that come out of his mouth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Dare you to jump off the dock."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin squints at him, finally stopping giggling just in time to look around. "What? Is that safe?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The dock in question is about a hundred metres away. It stretches out into the sea, with the sand of the beaches on both sides. There are no boats coming in and out today, and the area around them is almost completely deserted. Since there are already steps leading up to the top wall of the dock, the area where it'd be safe to jump off isn't very far away at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Felix nods. "Yeah. If it wasn't, there'd be signs all over the place. Trust me; I've been here before."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He has. He remembers this beach well - in fact, he'd been the one to suggest visiting. And that was the whole reason he'd suggested jumping off the docks into the water in the first place. When he'd come here as a child, he remembered watching all the teenagers diving into the water - whooping and shrieking the whole time. He remembered always wanting to join in, but being way too intimidated to ever make his own way up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin never backs out of a dare. He'll come along with Felix, definitely.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sure enough, Felix's prediction is completely correct. Before, he'd looked slightly nervous at the thought of jumping into the water from such a height. They've both heard horror stories of similar distances and jumping into water - he has good reason to not go rushing into the dare without thinking about it first. But now that Felix has told him it's safe? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sure," he says, "But! Only if you do it at the same time."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Felix cackles. "You're on!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Together, they race up the stairs. It doesn't seem very high at all, now they're actually making their way along the top of the walkway. The ocean below them seems even more inviting than before, and soon enough they've made their way all the way to the end of the wall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"There's a sign," Hyunjin says, pointing out a huge warning sign fastened onto the stone right before the gap in the wall. "<em>No- no jumping at- low tide. </em>It's not low tide right now, is it?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's not. The water is deep enough, and Felix had only checked the times for low and high tide about an hour ago. He's 100% sure that they'll be completely fine. There's no way that the water will be too shallow. If he had any sort of doubt in his mind, he would never have suggested the dare in the first place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Nah, it's high tide," he tells Hyunjin, stepping forwards. His toes curl around the end of the stone. It's so hot up here, the walkway is almost painful to step on. It'll be so nice to finally jump into the water. So cool and refreshing. "Three. Two. Jump!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin jumps beside him, he knows that much. There's a second or two where he's hanging in the air, falling through the sky and the whole world seems like it's in front of him. The thundering of his own heart seems to drown everything else out. His eyes squeeze shut as he takes in one last deep breath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then he hits the water.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For all that thinking, he'd known that the water wouldn't be too shallow. He'd never once stopped to think that it might be too deep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly, the whole world is black and white. His eyes had been shut too tight, and the salt water makes them burn too badly to see anything other than a swirl of washed-out colour. His arms are pinned to his sides by the force of the water. The waves slap his bare skin before pulling him under, tossing him up and down. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sinks, almost immediately, and then realises he no longer knows which way is 'up'.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He can't see anything. He can't breathe - the force of the impact had forced all the air from his lungs, despite taking in a deep breath before jumping. His head aches with how violently he'd been spun around, and his nose burns. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His limbs don't respond to his mind. They struggle, pushing forwards - except he doesn't know which way is forwards. He'd moving completely blind. He could be heading even deeper, but his panic-driven mind doesn't stop to tell him that. All he knows is keep moving, keep moving, keep moving-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His lungs burn. The panic of being so disorientated wipes all sense of place from his mind. He knows he can only have been underwater for a couple of seconds - thirty at most, nothing longer than a minute or anything like that - but he breathes in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His mouth fills with salt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Immediately, he gains some sort of conscience back. The taste hits him first - overwhelmingly salty. And then the burn starts. Water filling his lungs. Slowly and surely, there's nothing left for him. He can't see, he can't move, he can't-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This is the end.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then there are arms around him, pulling in back. He almost struggles away from them, but there's no energy left in his bones to push away. He lets himself be dragged away - whoever pulling him has got him tight, legs brushing against his, arms wrapped around his chest. The world is dimming from black and white to simply... black. He can't, he can't-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then it explodes into colour. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He's above the surface, leaning against someone and <em>coughing</em>. Spluttering his guts out, choking on the water that's now making its way back out of his lungs. He heaves for air, kicking blindly to keep himself afloat - despite being securely held by someone else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Someone - Chan - who holds him close and hits his back, letting the last of the seawater dribble from his lips. His lungs burn, but it's nothing like the shake in his arms, the pure adrenaline and terror that hasn't quite left his veins.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I've got you," Chan says, so quiet that it's almost inaudible against the cries of the other members and the gentle lull of the waves, "I've got you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And his lungs still burn with fire, his hands won't stop quivering and he can't stop the frantic splashing of his feet, but Felix isn't quite so scared anymore. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. claws</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>title from claws by charli xcx, which was the song i listened to on repeat whilst writing this</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span><br/>The car - if it can even be called that anymore - comes to life all at once.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minho smiles to himself. This is what he had been hoping for. In fact, it runs deeper than that. This is what he'd been <em>relying</em> on. No one had looked twice at the rusty pile of junk at the edge of the street corner, and if they had, it had been to do nothing more than laugh at the poor person who owned it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It certainly couldn't run, they'd thought. There was no way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And when they'd seen the child sat in the back seat - staring at them with eyes that seemed all too dark to be set in such a young face - the smiles had dripped from their lips. They'd hurried away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was all well and good to laugh when there was no one around to remind them of morality. As soon as they were reminded that these were people's misfortunes that they were laughing at - and the misfortune of a child, nonetheless - it didn't feel quite so good anymore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Guilt, Minho had decided, was a powerful thing. That was the main reason why he'd chosen the car, made sure the child was in the back seat, left it there to be laughed at.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Someone gave me some bread."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They're moving too fast for Minho to look behind him and check. The streets here are fast and dangerous. If his car can barely be called one because it's so close to losing all function, the others settle in that category for a very different reason.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minho's car is old. It's rusted over on the left-hand side - so badly that you can only open the doors on the right. The engine only works half of the time - although he's gotten very good at judging when it's about to stall. The radio plays nothing but folk songs in Spanish. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Most noticeably, there are holes in the floor before the seats. You can sit and watch the streets rush past beneath you, if you'd like - and if you can battle the vertigo. Minho isn't sure that the holes actually exist. He's never managed to get close enough to stick his hand through to check, and they only ever seem to appear when the car is in motion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Some sort of fault in the mechanism, he reckons. It would be too expensive to fix, and he's grown attached to the rush of blood to the head by now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The cars around them are flashy. They shine with thick layers of enchantments, and then coats of polish on top of that. They weave in and out of the lights without ever getting stopped or pulled over. Honestly, it's surprising to see so many of them here. Usually, they stick to their own roads - safer, monitors, complete with barriers blocking any model other than the latest - but they're used to displays of wealth in those areas of the city.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Here, in the dirty streets, the shine of their cars seems to ooze money and power. Here, they drive with no repercussions and laws, and bask in the watching eyes of everyone struggling to get by. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Did they?" Minho asks. He pats the seat next to him, "You wanna come sit in the front? I'll make sure it’s safe, if you'd like."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All he gets is a hum in response. But that's enough. As Minho swerves left, narrowly avoiding what is already a two-car pile-up, a small hand appears on the seat next to him. The hand is followed by an arm, and then a leg. Apparently, six years old isn't enough to work out how to squeeze through the gap between years. It doesn't matter that he's done it thousands of times before. Maybe he's doing it to annoy Minho - getting his muddy footprints on the seats on purpose.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seungmin hits the seat head first. He scrunches his legs up to his chest, pushing himself back until he can hook his feet around the headboard. As Minho tries not to watch, he pushes himself up and turns himself around, settling into the car seat comfortably. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sure enough, there's a chunk of bread in his hand. It's small - maybe around five inches in diameter - and almost certainly already stale. A good portion has already been ripped off. Whoever had taken pity on the child in the car hadn't cared enough to give him a full piece of bread.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Put a seatbelt on," Minho tells him. He holds his hand out for the bread, bringing it to his nose when Seungmin passes it over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"When we crash, a seatbelt won't do anything."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The bread certainly smells safe. It's harder to identify rogue charms these days, but Minho has been living on the streets for most of his life. He's gotten good at noticing the smallest missing detail - good to the point where he can even do it while driving.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It used to be worse than this, when he was a child. They used to pour charms into the streets unregulated, letting it leach into the snow in the hopes of getting rid of a few more street kids. That had all changed with the switch of the government, of course, and although not much had changed since then, at least no one was actively trying to poison him anymore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The new government couldn't care less about the street kids. Minho wouldn't be surprised to find out that they didn't even know they existed - that they didn't even know there was a world beyond the smart walls and fountains of money. He's not sure they'd be able to tell what was a child and what was simply a soot stain. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Whatever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn't like he was in that situation any more. Now he at least had a roof over his head - even if it was made of corrugated iron. And he had Seungmin. He didn't need anything else. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't care. Put your seatbelt on."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seungmin huffs. "Give me my bread first," he says, "Then I'll do it." Minho passes him the bread back, smiling when Seungmin immediately takes a huge bite, slumping even further back into his seat. He doesn't do his seatbelt up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Minho doesn't ask him again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The car in front of them veers right. A wheel flies off the front, sending the metal carcass careering off the edge of the highway. It crashes though an already-large hole in the safety railings, hanging off the edge of the concrete drop of a second or two. Minho swerves around without batting an eyelid.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Can I put the radio on?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sure."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not that Seungmin had needed his permission, really. Minho can't speak Spanish. He's not a fan of folk songs either, but it's much better than making the journey in silence, if neither of them are in the mood for talking. The noise makes them less likely to be caught. If the bag of money in the boot of the car wasn't suspicious enough, and if the boy in the passenger seat didn't exist.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seungmin can speak Spanish. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sings along to the music on the radio, even to the songs that Minho swears they've never heard before. His voice is lilting - a slight lisp - and half the time he gets distracted in-between lines. But he has the melody down, and he's good at singing - for a six-year-old.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>(He speaks Spanish)</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It won't be long now," he says, just for the sake of saying something. Seungmin hums his confirmation, and continues to sing quietly. He's finished the bread now, and presses his hands up against the cold glass windows instead. They leave handprints. The cold air outside fogs up, and the frost on the wing-mirrors catches the light. It's not sunny outside - the sky is dark and grey, just like every other day. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's always grey. It's always dark, and it's always cold. The frost rules the city much more effectively than any government ever could. At least, the people actually listen to the frost.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seungmin turns away from the window to look at Minho.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The radio has turned off at some point - <em>when had it turned off? when had Seungmin stopped singing?</em> - and the car is eerily silent. The road visible through the holes beneath them grows darker. The sky is shot through with crystals of snow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No," Seungmin says, "We're not."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then they're falling over the edge of the highway, hurtling down past the shadows of the underpass. The concrete apartment blocks seem to pass in slow-motion - dark windows staring back like eyes, or gaping, hungry mouths. Most of the glass is broken, decorating those mouths with ruthless, sharp teeth. The area underneath the motorway seems to be the darkest thing Minho has ever seen. The shadows seem almost painted in place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He realises that Seungmin is still beside him. The force of their descent has pinned him to his seat, and the fact that he's slumped so far down means that there's no risk of anything hitting him through the windscreen. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>(When we crash, a seatbelt won't do anything)</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Seungmin," Minho says. His stomach is doing flips, and he's pretty sure that he can see the bag of money in front of them - having flown out from the boot. His eyes are open - he can't seem to close them - and he's terrified. But he has to seem brave, because he has to look after Seungmin. "I-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There's a boy in the rear-view mirror. He's maybe... twelve, at most, and his neon orange hair seems to light up the grey of the city simply by existing. By the look of his chubby cheeks, he can't be from this area of the city. By the glint in his eyes, he can't be from this city full-stop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then there's the question of how he managed to get into their car in the first place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They're still falling when the boy reaches over and grabs his shoulder. Seungmin has reached up, and the boy grabs his hand without ever breaking eye-contact with Minho. He has a slightly crooked front tooth. It's that detail that sticks out, even when they're still hurtling towards the ground at a hundred miles an hour. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He can hear the crunch of the impact, even as the world disappears around him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he opens his eyes again, his feet are several inches deep into snow. There's an oil stain going up his arm - from brushing it against the carcass of his car as it hit the ground - and a scorch mark the shape of a hand burnt into his shoulder. Seungmin is stood beside him, holding his shoulders and shivering slightly. He presses against Minho's leg, looking dead-ahead in front of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At where the six people - all male, all with a spark in their eyes - stare right back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One of them steps forward. He's wearing a thick coat, another slung over his arm, which he passes to the orange-haired boy from the car. He smiles at them, snow landing in his curly blonde hair, and Minho feels whatever air had been left in lungs from the car crash get whisked away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He smiles back, without even realising. Seungmin is smiling too. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You must be Minho and Seungmin," the guy says, with an accent - an accent, Minho's not sure that he'd ever heard anyone with that accent before - and reaches out for a handshake. His hands are warm. "I'm Bang Chan. We've been looking for you."</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. all you wanna do</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this one is for RadicalRox, who asked for 'poly ot8 fluff of them maybe planning to spend Christmas together and how they're gonna do it? Maybe putting up some Christmas decorations, Minho putting some mistletoe around the house without telling anyone. Something Really fluffy'</p>
<p>i had to limit the prompt slightly (sorry!), but hopefully this is still okay! hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>"Chan." Minho's voice was stern, but he hadn't completely managed to mask the tremor of laughter in his tone. He was stood with his arms folded in an attempt to seem more intimidating, but the impression was ruined by the fact that he had a sparkling pair of reindeer antlers perched on his head. "Don't you think this is a bit much?"</p>
<p>Chan didn't even get a chance to reply. Immediately Jisung was stood up, causing half the papers that had been resting on the floor to go flying into the air. "That's rich coming from you!"</p>
<p>"Yeah," Changbin piped up, crossing his own arms in retaliation, "Wasn't this mostly your idea in the first place?"</p>
<p>Minho grinned. It was all teeth, but his eyes had crinkled up - showing that he was mostly kidding.<em> Mostly</em>. "Yeah, and what about it?"</p>
<p>"It's hypocritical," Jisung said, "You're a hypocrite!"</p>
<p>All he got in return was a kiss blown his way. Chan rolled his eyes, but scooted over when Minho took a step closer in an unspoken request to sit down. He was the last of the eight Stray Kids members to join their impromptu Christmas planning session.</p>
<p>As Changbin had said, it had been Minho's idea in the first place.</p>
<p>They'd never been at the dorms for Christmas before. Every year before, they'd had the luck to be allowed home to visit their families - even if it only ended up being for a day or two in the end. Schedules changed so quickly that there had never been any point to putting up any decorations. Either that, or they'd all been too busy to even notice the lack of festive spirit. </p>
<p>This year, however, was different.</p>
<p>For starters, it had just so happened that their designated 'time with families' had been pushed back further towards New Year. And for the first time, they hadn't had a comeback relatively near to the end of the year. The usual performances and talk-shows just... hadn't been there. Suddenly, the fact that they'd be celebrating Christmas together had hit them</p>
<p>Minho had been the one to bring it up. He'd brought out a box of old decorations, that his parents had given him the last time he'd visited their house. The aforementioned reindeer antlers had been one of the items tucked between the glittery tinsel and home-made Christmas baubles. </p>
<p><em>"Hey," </em>he'd suggested, <em>"Since we can't visit our families, why don't we make it as special as possible anyway? Why don't we have our own family Christmas, right here?"</em></p>
<p>That given Chan an idea. Nothing ever got done around the dorms unless it was very explicitly planned out and written down, so that's what he'd started to do. Only a few days after the original idea had been brought up, he'd gotten a pen and paper and sat down, ready to start thinking.</p>
<p>Felix had immediately joined him. He'd pulled Chan off his comfortable seat on the sofa, in fact, sitting him down on the cold floor of the dorm and starting to arrange the pieces of paper in front of him. They chatted away in English for a while, but it had then ended up with them spending more time reminiscing about Australia than actually planning anything.</p>
<p>At which point Hyunjin had joined. He'd pressed a kiss to both of their cheeks before doing anything else, with such speed and fluidity that Chan knew he hadn't even read the writing on the paper beneath his. Felix had pointed this out, and Hyunjin had jumped back. He'd leant down to help move them back to their original places, and hadn't left the planning group since.</p>
<p>Jeongin and Jisung had been next. They'd wandered in, bickering about something or other - apparently Jisung had been taking photos on his phone of Jeongin sleeping, and apparently the fact he looked very cute wasn't having a great impact on Jeongin's image. It didn't matter what they'd originally walked into the kitchen for, because they'd sat down and joined the circle immediately. </p>
<p>Seungmin came after them, thank goodness. The other members had gotten more than slightly distracted with trying to tackle each other with kisses than actually doing any planning, and Seungmin soon had them contributing ideas again. Sure, he'd done it by allowing them to press a kiss to his forehead once they'd come up with something worthy, but it worked, and that was enough for Chan.</p>
<p>(He certainly wasn't complaining - several of his own ideas had gained him that privilege before, and he wasn't about to lie about how well it worked as a motivation)</p>
<p>Finally, Changbin. He'd complained for a good five minutes about how he'd been left out, and so Hyunjin had immediately tackled him into a hug. Once he'd had a good moan at them, they were back on track for making their plan. All had been going well until Minho had appeared.</p>
<p>The harbinger of chaos himself.</p>
<p>"I'm not a hypocrite," Minho said as he sat himself down, leaning against Chan and resting his head on his shoulder. The tips of his antlers ticked Chan's cheek, so he shoved him away. Fondly, of course. "I simply prefer a more... <em>chaotic</em> approach."</p>
<p>"You just can't be bothered to plan!" Jeongin cried.</p>
<p>"It's not even true!" Seungmin added, "That's just what you say because you always forget, and end up having to do everything last minute!"</p>
<p>Minho, who had shifted over to lean on Felix as soon as Chan had pushed him away, scrambled back up. "Shut your mouth," he said, tackling Seungmin out of the circle. Seungmin shrieked as Minho covered his mouth with his hand, and then cackled as he - presumably - licked it, causing Minho to let out a shriek of his own.</p>
<p>Chan watched them, sighing as one of Minho's feet managed to catch the papers. They went flying, <em>again</em>. </p>
<p>"Guys," he said, "<em>Please</em>."</p>
<p>Jisung was right beside him, gathering the sheets up. He clapped a hand onto Chan's shoulder, laughing as Changbin and Felix are also pulled into what was rapidly becoming a mess of limbs and cuddling. Someone must have been wearing something with bells on, as there was an alarming ringing sound coming from somewhere. "Don't worry, big man."</p>
<p><em>Big man?</em> Chan wasn't even sure what that meant, but Jisung was speaking again before he could think to ask.</p>
<p>"We've got this! We'll go out and buy a tree tomorrow together. Then we can split into two groups; one can buy tinsel and decorations and stuff, and the other can start thinking about what we're going to eat! We've still got an entire week to decorate, and everything that needs to be bought early will have been taken care of."</p>
<p>In front of them, Jeongin is pulled into the tangle of bodies. He seemed to protest - but the only people that hadn't been absorbed into the mass were Jisung, Chan and Hyunjin. None of them moved to help him.</p>
<p>In fact, Hyunjin laughed at the maknae's misery. He crawled forwards, pushing Jeongin right into the thick of the mess, before lying right on top of the other members himself.</p>
<p>Chan couldn't even say anything. On part of his brain was completely taken over by the fact that there seemed to be a wrestling match going on right in front of him. The other part was going - <em>holy shit, Jisung's idea was actually perfect.</em></p>
<p>It was just the right mix of spontaneous and planned. There was little chance that anything would be forgotten, as long as the groups were planned out properly. Since everyone would have something to focus on, they were all getting involved. The timings worked perfectly, as well. Try as he might, Chan couldn't find a single fault.</p>
<p>"Wow," he told Jisung, "You're right. That is a good plan. Huh."</p>
<p>Jisung didn't seem to take offence at the fact Chan was surprised his plan was actually functional - or maybe he didn't notice. "Duh," he said, "It's because I'm a genius."</p>
<p>And with that, he grabbed Chan's hand. </p>
<p>As he was being pulled forward, Chan could imagine how lovely the room would look. He could imagine them drinking hot chocolate with the tree lights sparkling in the background, unironically leaving carrots out for the reindeers, probably attempting to tie each other up with the tinsel.</p>
<p>He couldn't help but smile as he was pulled into the pile of shrieking, flailing limbs. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. christmas tree, oh christmas tree</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this one is for blueberriemin_ on twitter, who asked for 'the boys getting a christmas tree and arguing over each tree and which one is better. then when they finally pick one they get home and doing domestic stuff like making hot chocolate and sitting by a fire and watching movies and just !!! domestic'</p><p>it ended up just being the tree part (i'm starting to sense a theme with me never actually doing the whole prompt rip), but hope you still enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"No way." Chan's voice is flat. "There is <em>no way</em> that you brought a ruler with you. <em>Please</em> tell me that I'm just seeing things."</p><p>Slowly, Seungmin looks down to the - yep, it's definitely a ruler - in his hands. He hadn't even tried to hide it when Chan had approached him. That probably meant that he didn't see anything wrong with what he was about to do. "One," he says, "It's a tape measure, not a ruler. We couldn't find a big enough ruler that would have fit into the car. Two, Minho told me it was a good idea."</p><p>Chan swivels on his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches sight of Jisung and Hyunjin sprinting between the rows of Christmas trees, and promptly decides to ignore them. There's a limited number of problems he can deal with at the same time. And considering how Minho immediately starts to sidestep away when he sees Chan approaching, one of them is much more important that the other.</p><p>"What's this I hear about a tape measure?"</p><p>Felix is stood near them. He'd been the one to suggest this tree farm in the first place. It was the only place nearby that had such a large range of Christmas trees - as they'd soon discovered when they arrived - so it was the perfect way to find the best tree for the dorm. Not too wide, not too tall, not to bare. Chan wonders whether he's regretting his suggestion already. </p><p>Minho looks up, as if only just realising that Chan is there. "Hmm? Oh, are you talking to me?"</p><p>It's completely ruined by the fact that he can't stop himself from grinning. Behind them, Jisung skids across the mud. He grabs onto Felix's sleeve to slow himself down, narrowly avoiding heading face-first into a pine tree. </p><p>Hyunjin isn't so lucky. Jisung laughs at him, though the mud coating his legs suggests that he'd probably done the exact same thing a couple of minutes ago. When Hyunjin gets his bearings back, he immediately charges after him, with Jisung pulling Felix along as well. It leaves Chan and Minho alone.</p><p>"Min." Chan raises his eyebrows. It seems like the kids can sense the empty space where Felix had been stood, since Seungmin and Jeongin immediately take his place. They're still holding the tape measure in their hands, and Seungmin's just about to reach out and measure the tree in front of them before Chan stops him.</p><p>Minho smirks again, barely able to stop himself from laughing. "Chan, what are you doing? We're trying to overthrow capitalism here!"</p><p>"You can't overthrow capitalism by measuring Christmas trees. The branches are <em>literally colour-coded</em> by their heights!"</p><p>"That's what they want you to think," Minho crosses his arms. He knows he's just taunting Chan now, and he knows that Chan doesn't really care. It's all just joking around. Chan is having as hard of a time trying to hide his grin as Minho is. "That's how they get you. First you're buying a Christmas tree that's two centimetres shorter than the advertised height, next monopolising an entire economy for profit."</p><p>"Oh, you <em>know</em> that's not how it works."</p><p>"Then show me how it does."</p><p>"Hyungs," Jeongin says, interrupting them. There's a pained look on his face, and his cheeks have gone bright red. Seungmin has abandoned ship altogether, moving around to the opposite side of the tree where Chan can't stop him from using the tape measure. "Please stop flirting."</p><p>"I want to bleach my eyes," Seungmin says, voice muffled from the layer of pine needles between them, "And my ears. Actually, just my entire brain in general."</p><p>Chan's cheeks are a shade of red rivalled only by Jeongin's. His ears are a similar colour, and he moves to pull up his scarf over his face on instinct. With Minho laughing out loud, practically bent-over double, he knows he'd lost.</p><p>"Fine." He says, hoping that his voice doesn't sound too high-pitched and embarrassed, "<em>But! </em>Only because you can say you're measuring to make sure it's gonna fit into the dorm. If anyone asks, you've never heard of capitalism."</p><p>Minho pauses. </p><p>He grins.</p><p>And then, before Chan can do anything to stop him, he lets out a cry of "Communism, baby!" and darts between a different row of trees. In a matter of seconds, he's completely disappeared.</p><p>Jeongin pats him on the shoulder. Together, they stare in the direction that Minho had sprinted.  "At least you tried."</p><p>Then Seungmin grabs his hand, pulling him over to another tree (that really just looks identical to the one they'd just measured, really, this is why they're going to be here for hours), and Chan is left alone. </p><p>Right. That... that was something that just happened.</p><p>Time to move onto the next trouble maker. Chan shuffles through a list of members in his head, trying to work out who he hasn't seen for a while. Minho is off trying to evade him, Seungmin and Jeongin are to his left. Hyunjin, Jisung and Felix are still playing tag, which only leaves Changbin. </p><p>Who he hasn't seen since they arrived.</p><p>The rows of trees act more like a maze that Chan had thought they would. Despite being all ordered, with the tallest trees towards the end of the farm and the shortest towards the entrance, there are so many twists and turns in the path that he almost immediately gets lost. </p><p>It's only when he sees the sparkling Christmas lights from the shop that he realises he's managed to circle around - the trees around him now are the most expensive and the most beautiful, right where anyone who wants to spend less than 0.2 seconds looking can easily grab them. The start of the ordered rows is a couple of metres back. Chan squints in their direction.</p><p>There's a figure towards the end of the row, looking at the trees right at the wall. They've got their hood up, hiding their face, but Chan recognises the clothes and the posture.</p><p>By complete coincidence, it seems, he's managed to find Changbin anyway. </p><p>"Binnie?"</p><p>Sure enough, the figure turns around. Changbin's face lights up, and then drops in a matter of seconds. "Chan," he says, "Look at this."</p><p>Chan looks. He's standing in front of a tree so small that his body practically hides the entire thing from view. It only goes up to his waist, and is so thin that if Changbin weren't looking at it, Chan's not sure he would have even realised there was a tree there. It seems to have lost most of its needles as well, leaving nothing but a few bare branches.</p><p>"It's beautiful," Changbin says, nothing less than pure awe in his voice. "I think I'm in love."</p><p>"It's a tree," Chan replies.</p><p>And it's possibly the ugliest tree he's ever seen. There's no way to tell Changbin that, however. He seems to have his heart set on the plant in front of them, patchy branches and crooked trunk included. He's just thinking over how he's going to break the news that there's no way they're buying the mess in front of them, when Minho appears.</p><p>"That's- uh," he says, squinting at the tree. Chan shoots a quick warning glare at him, but Changbin gets there first.</p><p>"It's perfect. This will go with our dorm<em> perfectly.</em>"</p><p>"Changbin..." Chan finally starts to speak, putting one hand on Changbin's shoulder. "I don't think-"</p><p>"I agree!" Minho practically yells the words, drowning out anything Chan could have said. "It's great! It's completely tiny and ugly, and <em>I love it!</em>"</p><p>Changbin frowns. "It's not ug-"</p><p>"Kids!" Minho ignores him, "Isn't this tree great?"</p><p>Like a wave of chaos, the other members emerge from the treeline. They're all covered in mud - Jeongin and Seungmin must have been absorbed into the game of tag - but they're grinning and their cheeks are rosy with laughter. Chan can only watch in awe. How- how had Minho managed to get them to come out on time? How had he managed to get them to <em>listen</em> to him?</p><p>"I love it!" Felix says, as soon as they're within a couple of metres of the tree. "Chan, we have to get this one!"</p><p>He probably agrees with Changbin, having taken pity on the straggly... thing in front of them. The rest of the kids probably won't agree, but they love the chaos. There's a certain irony in getting the ugliest tree in the entire farm, and Chan can't find himself protesting too much.</p><p>It fits.</p><p>Something that goes against what's considered conventionally 'perfect'. Something that's doing its own thing, and - Chan laughs to himself - going at its 'own pace'. If they don't buy it, he doubts that anyone else will. </p><p>And besides. The cheers he gets when he finally says they can buy the tree makes it all worth it. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. lessons</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>for 3_Siracha, who suggested 'Jisung overhears that His roommates(Stray kids) say that he gives out the worst presents, so Jisung becomes determined to get everyone what they really want for Christmas this year, even if means skipping a few meals and working overtime'</p>
<p>the end of this is a bit rushed lmao, but i wrote this in one go and i think my hands are going to fall off if i write any more today</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span><br/>The problem with living with seven other boys, was that it was never, ever quiet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Students weren't known for their volume control anyway. When combined with quite possibly the thinnest walls known to man, it doesn't seem real that it had taken all eight of them to rent the apartment. They were all broke college students, and the city had much higher rates of rent than anyone had expected - fitting, seeing that no one had bothered to think about that fact until most of them were due to be kicked out of first year dorms in less than a week.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucky for them, Felix's friend Chan had been looking for some new roommates. He'd brought some of his own buddies, Felix had brought Jisung, Hyunjin and Seungmin. Along with the random first year they'd acquired - Yang Jeongin - they'd managed to find somewhere large and cheap.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And <em>very</em> noisy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Usually, Jisung couldn't care less. It would be a bit hypocritical for him to complain, since he was the one shrieking and singing at the top of his lungs, most of the time. Out of the four noise complaints they'd received so far, two of them were because of his singing in the shower, and one other because he'd tried to initiate a high-note battle with the others.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(The last was due to one, very eventful Mario Kart race. They were all forbidden to ever speak of it again)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But today was different. He <em>had</em> been trying to sleep. He'd had a couple of long nights, trying to finish a paper that he really should have started a lot earlier than he actually did. Was it too much to ask for, an uninterrupted nap in the middle of the day? In fact, he'd even announced his intentions out loud, just so they knew to be a little bit quieter. Certainly, when he'd first fallen asleep, they'd been relatively silent. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It hadn't lasted long.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He'd woken up again twenty minutes later. His eyes seemed glued shut still, and his body was possibly even more tired than when he'd originally laid down. There was a foul taste in his mouth, and he'd already been left with that strange head-spin and loss of perception of time. Even after only twenty minutes, it seemed like the whole world had been flipped upside down. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe that was why he didn't realise he could hear the other members of the household speaking for a minute or so.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was only when he really tried to bury himself into his duvet that he first properly heard their voices. His own bed was in the process of being cleaned - the duvet covers and sheets still hanging out to dry - so he'd decided to nap in Jeongin's. His bed, however, was pushed up against the wall that bordered the kitchen. If the walls weren't thin enough already, the positioning meant that he could hear every word properly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Including when<em> someone said his name. </em></span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Okay, sue him. Jisung was a nosy person. But surely anyone in his position would start to listen in, right? This could be the chance to get some juicy gossip that no one had told him yet. By talking right where they could hear him, surely they were just asking for it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"-asleep?" </span>
  </em>
  <span>The person - Chan, he reckoned - finished. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"Oh, yeah." </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jeongin was the one to reply. <em>"Definitely. He goes out like a light switch when he's tired, and you should have seen how hard he was working on that paper. There's no way he'll be waking up in the next five hours, trust me."</em></span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was met with laughter, and Jisung himself couldn't help but smile. It made his insides fizz, knowing that they'd noticed how hard he'd been working. Even if none of them shared the same classes as him, it was still nice to know that they thought he was a hard-worker.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"We can expect to be woken up in the middle of the night, then."</span>
  </em>
  <span> Hyunjin joked, met with another round of laughter. Jisung just rolled his eyes at that one. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"It also means we're in for another round of terrible Christmas presents."</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The voice undeniably belonged to Minho. There was no hiding it, and no hiding the way Jisung froze in confusion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"Huh?"</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jeongin sounded just as confused as Jisung felt. <em>"I forget that we only met you this year,"</em> Felix said, <em>"It feels like forever! You wouldn't know, but Jisung's got a reputation for buying... uh, </em>interesting <em>Christmas presents. I don't think he does it on purpose, but still. Don't get your hopes up for whatever he buys you."</em></span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They laughed again, but the fizz in Jisung's stomach had evaporated. It had been replaced with something cold and heavy, a drop in his gut that made him feel slightly queasy. Suddenly, he didn't feel like sleeping any more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before he could hear anything else, he grabbed his headphones, ignoring how empty he felt inside. Was that how they really felt? Was that- were they that disappointed with him? They hadn't sounded annoyed or anything, but still. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He knew he didn't put a lot of effort into presents, but he hadn't realised that they <em>specifically didn't expect much from him</em>. He hadn't realised that he let them down, ever single year, and that they'd become used to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it's because he was tired out of his mind, but Jisung immediately opens his bank account once the music on his phone has started playing. There was a newfound determination inside of him, covering up the bright and painful hurt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It didn't matter that he'd bought bad presents in the past if he got them what they really wanted this year, right? There was still a week left until Christmas, it would be easy to make enough money. It wasn't like anyone hid what they really wanted either - everyone knew there was no chance anyone was spending that much money on a single person, not when they had to buy gifts for everyone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Jisung had been basically scamming them every year up until now. If he thought about how much money he should have spent, then - well, it certainly meant that he should be easily able to buy them what they wanted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He smiled to himself. A few extra work shifts couldn't hurt. It was worth it, if he finally managed to make up for being such a bad friend. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Over the last six days, Jisung had changed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Felix had noticed it. First, Jeongin had come into Hyunjin, Changbin and Seungmin's room, asking where Jisung was. He was usually back by work, apparently, and just hadn't showed up. They'd looked around the apartment for a good few minutes - not convinced he hadn't just fallen asleep in some incredibly strange hidden position - until Minho had mentioned that Jisung was working.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They'd shrugged it off. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was nearly Christmas, after all. They'd all been asked to cover random shifts at different points during the week, and Jisung worked two jobs. it was more than likely he'd been asked to do last-minute cover, and jumped at the chance for some extra pay. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was only when he didn't come home until late the next night as well, that they realised something was up. Maybe it was his other job - it couldn't be that unusual to be asked to work two nights in a row, especially if the cover shifts were completely unrelated. But then he'd been back the next night as well, and the next, and-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, there was a reason that all seven of them were awake and waiting in the kitchen for him to get back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan had mentioned not seeing Jisung for a while, and then Minho had, and then Changbin had. Hyunjin said he'd been seeing him in the mornings - but he got up early to make sure he nabbed a free dance practice room. No one knew what Jisung was doing awake that early. Not when it usually took at least three of them to drag him out of bed before nine. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And combined with Jeongin confirming that he hadn't been getting back until late?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Felix himself had noticed something. He'd gone out with Jisung for bubble tea the other day. They'd been right up at the store, so close to walking in, when Jisung's face had dropped. Felix had though he'd been looking at the menu - that maybe he'd seen that whatever he wanted was out of stock - but it wasn't until Jisung had made his excuses and left that Felix had seen the prices right underneath the menu.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He'd frowned, and shrugged it off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It hadn't seemed too important at the time. But when everyone else had come forwards with other stories about how strange Jisung was acting at the moment, he couldn't help but think that it was something else. He'd been the one to suggest waiting up for him, in the end. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, the door creaked open.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The hallway was dark, but all the lights in the kitchen were on. As soon as Jisung stepped inside, he could see them looking at him. And they- they could see how <em>terrible</em> he looked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In fact, 'terrible' seemed like an understatement. There were huge bags under his eyes, and in just six days it seemed like he'd lost past of his signature chubby cheeks. His hair wasn't as shiny as normal, and his hands trembled when he put the plastic shopping bags that he'd been carrying onto the floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What-" he said, voice quiet and confused, "What's this?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chan took a step forward. "Jisung," he started, and then stopped in his tracks. One of the bags had fallen over, revealing what was inside to everyone. It was a... pair of headphones? Felix wasn't too big in brands, but he knew that the pair couldn't have been cheap. They weren't in Jisung's signature red either, instead a familiar shade of black. A familiar shade, because Chan had been talking about those headphones for the past month. "Jisung, what's this?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung dropped to the floor, scrambling to put the headphones back into the bag. He wasn't quick enough. Already, Felix could see that the other item was a sleek adjustable cake tin, complete with a large display stand. If he hadn't worked out what was happening already, the realisation would have hit him like a truck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was what <em>he'd</em> asked for. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I thought-" Jisung said, clearly realising that they'd all worked out what was going on, "I thought that I wanted to get you something different this year. Something that you really wanted, you know?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't understand," Minho was frowning, "Usually you get us something tiny."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Jisung's following smile was nothing short of hear-breaking. "I know," he said, "I wanted to make up for the other years, where I've given you te- terrible presents."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His voice hitched on the last word. With the way he was looking at the ground, refusing to look up, something very cold and ugly suddenly bloomed into full understanding in Felix's chest. He was suddenly taken back to six days ago, just before they'd first noticed Jisung acting strange. A specific conversation in fact, whilst Jisung had been asleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Or, at least, while they'd thought Jisung had been asleep. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn't wait any longer. Felix crossed the room without a second thought, pulling Jisung in to his arms and holding him tight. The others didn't hesitate to join them, and soon they were all clinging to each other, still in a state of shock. A state of horrified realisation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're the best gift," Felix said. He knew Jisung he could hear him. He couldn't care less about who else heard him, because he knew that they'd all agree. "We love <em>you</em>, Jisung, terrible presents and all. Who cares about them? As long as you're the one giving them, Sungie, they'll be perfect."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he repeated it until Jisung knew it was true. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. manta rays</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this is for dididinosaur, who asked for ' a scenario of jisung having a narcolepsy'</p>
<p>LISTEN, I KNOW THIS ENDS SO ABRUPTLY, BUT-<br/>this is something i'd actually love to continue?? there's only so much i fit into a short chapter written in one, and this definitely has the potential for like 15k<br/>so 👀👀</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jisung first notices it when he'd 14.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He's getting in a fight. Hyunjin - the boy who sits next to him in maths, the boy who's determined to make Jisung's life a living hell - had finally crossed the line. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They'd had a supply teacher. Someone at the front of the class had thought it would be funny to tell the teacher that they'd been talking to each other and passing notes. Chatting in class, doing <em>anything</em> that wasn't very specifically working on the exercise, was practically a death-sentence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They'd gotten detention at lunch together, and Jisung is convinced it's all Hyunjin's big plan. He's friends with everyone, right? Of course, he'd known that the girl would make up lies about them, he'd probably been the one to organise it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just so he could get Jisung alone. Probably so he can torment him some more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lucky for Jisung, he doesn't fall for it for a single second. As soon as the teacher leaves to go to the bathroom, he jumps out of his chair. "Hey!" He says to Hyunjin, pointing his finger (like he's seen in amine - it looked pretty intimidating there, so it's gotta be just as cool here, right?) right at him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin doesn't look up from the maths worksheet they'd been asked to complete - in addition to the work they already had to do in class. He looks like he's halfway done already. He's pretty good at maths, and the questions are probably incredibly easy for him. He hasn't had to work for anything in his life before, why shouldn't maths skills come just as easily?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung hasn't gotten past question five. It's not that he's bad at maths, it comes pretty easily to him as well, but he just can't seem to focus. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to stay up all of last night binge-watching the latest Haikyuu season. His limbs feel incredibly drained, and he can't concentrate on anything for longer than a couple of seconds. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Look at me!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, Hyunjin turns to face him. "Stop yelling," he says, "You're going to get us in trouble."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung scoffs. "That's rich, coming from you." He has a better comeback planned, but Hyunjin interrupts him before he can even start to get the words out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know you're used to detention, Jisung, but I'm not. You've already done enough by getting me stuck here, can't you just leave me alone?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>What?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Jisung's blood boils. "Excuse me? It's your fault that we're stuck here, don't try and pin it on me!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin looks at him. From under those long eyelashes, the fringe that always falls perfectly onto his face, Hyunjin looks at Jisung and scoffs. Or maybe he just sighs, looking back down to continue working, but Jisung can't care less about the intricacies of it all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He's so angry. About how Hyunjin can be so calm how he doesn't seem to care at all! He did all of this to annoy Jisung, he just knows it! And now he has the nerve to <em>ignore</em> him! The feeling rushes to his head, taking control of his body and turning his emotions inside out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How dare you!" Jisung says. There's nothing left to do except let the anger consume him. Hyunjin seems to be getting annoyed by him, but there's still no reaction. He needs a reaction, just <em>something</em> to break down his stupid, princely persona. "Don't-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then something strange happens.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just as he's reaching the peak of his emotion, as the flames are beginning to consume his mind, his legs give out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung crashes to the floor, only just missing hitting his head on the side of Hyunjin's desk. The feeling is... weird. He can't move his legs at all, can't move the rest of his body, and yet he's completely conscious. There's no reason why his legs should have given out at all. The whole thing only lasts a few seconds in total, and then he can move again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin stares down at him. There's something in his eyes; he's stood up, and he's looking judgementally down at the boy on the floor. "Are you okay?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it's because he's shocked himself, but Jisung doesn't immediately bite back. His heart is racing, and his body seems even more tired than before. He's confused, scared, and maybe it's because of those racing emotions that he can look past Hyunjin's condescending glare and see that it's not condescending in the slightest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin is just as confused and frightened as he is.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm fine." He doesn't need Hyunjin's pity, but the words aren't as mean as they would have been if he'd said them five minutes ago. Already, he knows that they'll never talk about this again, but their relationship will have been permanently changed. There's a mutual understanding that hadn't existed before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin nods. He watches as Jisung stumbles back to his seat, and doesn't look away even as Jisung starts to work on his maths again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He can't concentrate for long. His sudden fall had seemed to increase the exhaustion in his mind by a billion percent. He can't keep his eyes longer for a moment longer. The teacher has probably forgotten about them, he decides. Just falling asleep for a couple of minutes won't hurt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he wakes up about half an hour later, he'd had a pretty crazy dream. Hyunjin is gone. The teacher is glaring at him, and he's got another detention after school tomorrow, but Jisung can't stop thinking about how he'd felt when his knees had hit the floor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin and Jisung actually become friends after that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their unspoken secret remains unspoken, but they certainly speak about other things. By the time Jisung is sixteen, Hyunjin is one of his closest friends. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung learns that he's not as effortless as he appears, and that Hyunjin spends a lot of time practicing everything over and over again. He seems too talented because he works so hard, and Jisung can't help but feel guilty for everything he'd assumed. He also learns that no one actually talks to Hyunjin apart from Jisung - and it had been that way even when they were sworn enemies. For someone who appears to fit in, he's always been completely alone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung is alone as well. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For someone who's always on-guard, it's equally as hard to make friends. Jisung is too loud, not concerned enough with being seen as cool or popular. He doesn't play a sport, and he's never cared about getting the attention of the girls in his class. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's strange why they'd hated each other for so long, when they're really a perfect match.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And together, they make new friends. Felix joins their school a year after the detention incident, and quickly finds himself being shown around by the only two people who don't stare at his freckles. Seungmin joins only a couple of months after, once Felix finally works up the courage to talk to the hard-working boy in his photography class. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They're all hanging around in Seungmin's room when it happens.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Felix leans back into his chair. They'd pulled up Minecraft on Seungmin's ancient computer, and were currently taking turns playing in different minigames. Jisung was absolutely terrible at it, as was Hyunjin, but Felix played like a natural. Seungmin was half-decent as well, which made sense since it was his computer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't believe you just lost like that," Hyunjin comments, as all four of them stare at the screen declaring Felix's character death, "That's so... anticlimactic."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Felix huffs his frustration. "Dude, it's because I'm so tired. I feel like every day my bed just gets warmer and warmer, and it takes me at least fifteen minutes to get up."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe stop playing Pokémon on your DS until 2AM," Seungmin comments. He shoves Felix off the seat, and loads up another go. It's his turn after all, and so Hyunjin and Jisung immediately sit back. They'll be here a while, since Seungmin always plays on the defensive and ends up surviving most of the game.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We're teenagers," Hyunjin says, "We're, like, supposed to be tired. That's how it works."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung can relate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Every night, he still goes to bet at half nine. It's much earlier than anyone he knows, and yet he still never manages to get a full night’s sleep. He always ends up waking up abruptly, after having really vivid dreams or something. It takes forever for him to get just two hours of just constant rest, and then his mind tells him that there's someone in the corner of the room or something, and suddenly all his progress is gone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gets tired in school, as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he gets back home, he immediately takes a nap. He goes to sleep in his break periods as well, but that never seems to help. If he isn't feeling tired before, it's like his brain refuses to let him relax enough to doze off. And the periods of feeling tired seem to arrive randomly - but they never leave until he's so tired that he can do nothing <em>except</em> sleep. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn't think about the fact that it's getting worse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn't think about the detention incident, or when Felix had made him laugh so hard that he swore his speech was slurred for a good few minutes afterwards. He'd forced himself to stop laughing then, just in case his legs gave out again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In fact, he can feel himself growing tired now. He had come over to Felix's straight away after school, and hadn't had the chance to nap like he usually did. The change in his energy levels seems to seep into his bones. He's already sat on Felix's bed, and that's not helping at all. When Hyunjin flops back beside him, Jisung can't help but follow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin frowns at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you okay?" He asks, "You'd usually have replied by now. Did you not find my joke funny? It's not like you're a connoisseur of comedy yourself."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jisung hadn't even noticed that Hyunjin had told a joke. He'd been so caught up in his thoughts that he had lost track of the conversation. Even now, it's hard enough to focus enough to open his mouth and get the words out, "Sorry. 'm just tired."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hyunjin snorts. He doesn't look away for a couple of moments, but eventually finishing thinking over what had been going through his mind. "Seems like it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turns away, but Jisung doesn't notice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He's already asleep. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. 1999</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>for meteorlix on twitter, who asked for jeongin retro au</p><p>i literally no nothing about the 90s, so I apologise for this entire thing lmao</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span><br/>Jeongin frowned at Changbin over the table. His little brother refused to break eye contact, instead folding his arms and sticking out his lower lip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Binnie," Jeongin said, slowly, "You know that the Millennium Bug won't actually happen, right?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin shook his head. He speared a bit of meat and stuck it into his mouth, crossing his eyes in an attempt to look at both Jeongin and his fork at the same time. "Nuh uh. That's not what Jisung told me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course. Long gone were the days that Changbin actually thought Jeongin was cool, and with them had gone any chance to him actually listening to what he had to say. Changbin had turned eight in the summer. It was no longer acceptable in school to be close to your older brother. Everything was all about Pokémon cards now, or other crazes that Jeongin couldn't even keep up with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin was older now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was no longer Jeongin's baby brother. Even if Jeongin would always see him that way - the same tiny baby that his parents had come back with, and he'd known that he'd always protect the child in front of him - it was inevitable that he was going to have grown up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eight years old still seemed so <em>young</em>, though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jisung is seven," Jeongin told him, purposefully not looking away. He was older, he could easily win the staring contest that was currently raging between them. "He doesn't know everything. If you watched the news for once, you'd know that they'd fixed the bug."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung actually just sat in front of the television a lot. Jeongin had been over to his house once, to supervise Changbin when he was slightly younger, and had been surprised to find that Jisung's parents were perfectly content to leave their son in front of the TV whilst they went out shopping. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only reason he knew so much was because he was constantly filling his head with National Geographic. All those animal facts had gained him a sort of 'superhero' image at school, although Jeongin would pity him the day when fun facts were no longer cool either. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin just sniffed. "I'm not watching the news; I'm not old like you. Jisung says that all the computers are gonna break, and that we should be storin' food just in case. It's like the apocalypse. We've gotta be prepared."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Is that what he really says?" Jeongin replied, dryly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin didn't seem to catch the sarcasm, as he continued on speaking regardless, "Hyunjin says he's been stealing tins from his pantry and hiding them under his bed. Felix doesn't speak English good enough yet, but we've been drawin' him pictures so he can prepare as well."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With that, his face morphed into a more familiar expression. One that made his eyes grow huge and massive, sparkling in the low light of the kitchen. It reflected the two empty chairs beside them, and the pile of coins that had been left out for Jeongin earlier. More and more often, it seemed like their parents were never home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that only made Jeongin weaker to Changbin's puppy-dog eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You want us to go out and prepare?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin's face burst into a huge grin. He nodded his head, sticking the last of his meal into his mouth and presenting his empty plate to Jeongin. A silent sign to ask if he could leave the table - to ask whether they could leave as soon as they'd finished eating, because Jeongin would always say yes to his baby brother - and jumped up when he got a nod in response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something stuck out to Jeongin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It sounded like Jisung had told his friends not to tell their parents about the Millennium Bug preparations. He assumed that siblings were also in that 'no telling' zone, so it said something that Changbin had told him anyway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face in return.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The money left was for them to go and buy Christmas presents. There were only a couple of days until the end of school, and then not much longer until Christmas day itself. Jeongin had decided to make some of his presents this year - with some help from a friend in the year above, Chan - and Changbin wasn't actually expected to do anything more than a nice picture at that age. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And if that wasn't good enough, the main highstreet was close enough that they didn't have to take the bus - although that's what their parents would have wanted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin was good with numbers. He did the calculations in his head; with what they needed to spend money on (for people who wouldn’t take homemade gifts, or those that deserved something slightly better quality than a badly-crotched square), they'd have just enough for one or two cans of food.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was enough to please Changbin, which meant that it was enough to please Jeongin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sighed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Really, he should learn to say 'no', one of these days. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But it was worth it to see the way that Changbin's eyes lit up when Jeongin putt their plates into the sink, rinsing them with water and then leading him to the corridor. "We can buy a few," he warned, trying not to laugh when Changbin practically jumped a metre into the air with happiness, "But don't tell mom or dad, okay?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Deal!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They spent the next few minutes pulling on gloves, coats, boots and scarves. Jeongin made sure that Changbin's shoes were actually on the right feet. It was embarrassing for an eight-year-old, but as much as he'd never admit that to anyone else, Jeongin had to check his own feet first. They're a bit too alike, him and Changbin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The world outside was already dark. Their street was lit up with Christmas lights. A few of the more ambitious homes had gone with some pretty cool designs - the most memorable of which were Pokémon themed, as Changbin had stood and stared in wonder at the blinking LED bulbs for a good five minutes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin had had to drag him away, reminding him of the whole reason that they'd left their house in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(It did make him excited, though. He'd been spending half of his pocket money on Pokémon cards every week since the beginning of November. He couldn't wait to see the look on Changbin's face when he saw his gift)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The road to the shops seemed almost magical. As they turned the corner, Jeongin could see the huge Christmas tree in the middle of the square. All decked out in sparkling lights, brilliantly coloured baubles and with a huge, glowing star at the very top. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That won't be there when the bug wipes out all electronics," Changbin muttered darkly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin had to hide his smile with his hand. "I'm not sure that Christmas tree lights will be affected by Y2K," he said, "They don't exactly need a date to work."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's what they want you to think," Changbin was quick to shoot back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They don't even keep the tree up until New Year's."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That certainly got him. Changbin stood for a moment, looking right at the tree. Jeongin held out his hand, ready for him to take so they could start shopping, but Changbin didn't move from his spot. He looked like he was deep in thought, frowning slightly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually, he spoke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jeongin," he said, "You're right. I think I not spend that money on tins of food. I might buy you a *NSYNC CD, if you want."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's not your money, Jeongin thought. And he was actually more of a Backstreet Boys fan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he smiled. That proud feeling whenever he looked Changbin bubbled up in his chest again. Really, he couldn't care less about what Changbin bought him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just as long as it was from him. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. your new boyfriend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this one's for httpsKSM, who asked for 'skz hanging up mistletoes for 2min! doing everything they can to set them up together but 2min try their hardest to dodge it, basically just comedy and pure fluff with 2min actually ending up together and just being soft lol'</p><p>this one was SO FUN to write lmao<br/>every year i've gotten prompts about mistletoe (this is actually the first of two this year as well, lmao), and each one is just more and more fun as i try and make them all distinct.</p><p>enjoy!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seungmin has taken to carrying around one of those sticky hands with him. You know, the ones that people used to have as kids. They were always in bright neon colours, with long stretchy handles that people could grip onto. They'd then proceed to go around and whack their friends in the back of the head with them for the rest of the day. Every single time, they'd either end up covered in bits of fluff, or just lost to the abyss.</p><p>Seungmin takes care of his.</p><p>They're neon green, and he uses them so rarely that they actually manage to stay stick.</p><p>Well. Air exposure still exists. If they end up drying out too quickly, Seungmin just wraps duct tape across. As long as they're easy to aim, easy to grab and use before someone tackles him, and still sticky enough to fulfil their purpose, he couldn't care less about the intricacies of it all.</p><p>Of course, he'd much rather not have to carry around sticky hands in the first place.</p><p>But this year, there seems to be a surplus of mistletoe around the university. Every hallway he seems to walk down has sprigs tied to the doorways. His dorm room seems to be the only one with leaves sticking though the door. The seat that he's eaten in every day for two years has had a stick tied to the ceiling beams above it, and a mistletoe plant hanging from the end of it. </p><p>It's awfully suspicious.</p><p>Seungmin knows exactly who is behind it. His friend group aren't that subtle - always talking too loudly when Seungmin is right around the corner. They haven't yet learnt that hiding behind bins doesn't actually work when they giggle so loud that practically hear them. </p><p>It wouldn't be so bad if that was where the torture ended.</p><p>But, alas, they'd never let Seungmin's life be that easily. They've really got it out for him at this point. Although, maybe it <em>is</em> his own fault for taking the chance to terrorise them at every single point throughout the rest of the year. </p><p>Maybe if he hadn't duct taped Jisung to the wall of his room and left him there for three hours. (In his defence, Jisung had wanted to see if he could stay up there in the first place. It only had really become Seungmin's fault when Jisung had asked to come down, and they'd both realised at the same time that he was completely helpless up there).</p><p>Maybe if he hadn't been so insistent on smothering Jeongin with hugs every time the younger boy came within a five-feet radius of him. It wasn't his fault that the younger boy looked so cute all of the time! And they all made sure that Jeongin got all the love he deserved; it just so happened that Seungmin was sometimes-usually-all of the time the one to instigate it.</p><p>Maybe if he hadn't given Hyunjin pink hair dye instead of his normal conditioner. But if Hyunjin actually used his own shower supplies instead of stealing everyone else's, then they wouldn't have had that problem in the first place! Besides, it wasn't as if he'd looked bad with pink hair. If anything, it had made even more people simp over him.</p><p>Maybe if he hadn't purposely shuffled the Uno cards until he had all the plus fours when he was playing against Chan. Maybe if he hadn't purposely followed Changbin around for an entire day, ringing his phone every time he was about to speak to someone.</p><p>Maybe if he hadn't... okay, he hadn't done anything to Felix. The boy was just too much of an angel. Seungmin would never forgive himself if he did anything to Felix.</p><p>The point is, really, that maybe he shouldn't have terrorised his friends an equal amount. It had definitely been worth it, and Seungmin probably deserves every bit of torture he's receiving at the moment. He isn't mad, though. He just likes to complain. </p><p>And it isn't fair that they'd brought <em>Minho</em> into it.</p><p>Mistletoe, Seungmin can deal with. He can ignore the green and white sprigs above every single doorway, if it weren't for the fact that Minho always seemed to be walking in the opposite direction. And if their friends wouldn't then jump out of their 'hiding' places and immediately point out that they now had to kiss.</p><p>Hence, the sticky hand. </p><p>It’s a stroke of genius, really. Every time he notices a sprig of mistletoe, he grabs it out of his backpack and aims. It's predictable that his friends never bother to stick the plants to the walls with anything more than a couple of bits of Sellotape. Once he's aimed relatively well, the duct tape catches one of the leaves, and the entire thing comes down. </p><p>And if that doesn't work?</p><p>Well. Both him and Minho are getting very good at sprinting in the opposite direction as soon as they see the other approaching. Seungmin actually has Minho's number blocked on his phone - and he refuses to unblock it - so they couldn't just avoid each other that easily. It doesn't help that their friends kept forcing them into situations that they weren't expecting, and then shoving them together.</p><p>Just yesterday, Minho had done quite an impressive forward roll across a table, promptly almost fallen down, and then run away like nothing had ever happened. They were all too intimidated to bring his slight stumble up, anyway. And in fact, Seungmin is pretty sure that they were actually quite impressed. He certainly hadn't been forced into any more mistletoe situations that day, at least.</p><p>Oh, how wrong he'd been.</p><p>Apparently, they'd taken that break yesterday because they were planning... <em>this</em>.</p><p>"Ow."</p><p>Jisung nudges him in the back, getting Seungmin to walk a little quicker. It causes his hands to jolt forwards, rubbing against the fabric of his sweater. The duct tape - although his hands have only been bound for five minutes top - is already starting to rub. "Oh, it hurts, does it? Imagine being stuck for five hours!"</p><p>"It was three at most." Seungmin immediately replies.</p><p>Jisung scoffs. "Of course, you'd say that," he says, "You're the one that left me there in the first place!"</p><p>Felix is a couple of steps ahead of them, walking side by side with Jeongin, who looks a little too happy that they've finally got Seungmin into a situation that he couldn't escape from. It had been him as the bait in the first place - the only reason they'd managed to capture Seungmin is because Hyunjin had told him that Jeongin was in the next room over, completely unaware and waiting to be squashed. Seungmin had charged in without thinking, only to find... well, you could imagine what he found going by the fact he was now tied up with his own duct tape.</p><p>"Actually, Jisung," Felix says, "This Minnie, remember? You know he wouldn't lie, even if it doesn't particularly favour him."</p><p>"That doesn't mean he doesn't bend the truth," Jisung is quick to fire back, "Maybe it was four hours and fifty-nine minutes! You don't know, you weren't there."</p><p>"We were there. We were literally the ones to get you down."</p><p>It's actually Hyunjin who speaks up next, interrupting both Jisung and Felix who were getting close to seeming like they'd get into an argument. Hyunjin, who Seungmin's known for years, and can spot the fact that he'd been quietly encouraging that fight easily.</p><p>"Hey," he says, "We have enough duct tape to cover his mouth, you know. Why don't we just do that as well?"</p><p>He shoots a sideways glance at Seungmin, knowing that the threat should be enough to get Seungmin to shut up by himself. Unluckily for him, Seungmin has a pretty good idea of where they'd leading him, and therefore knows he has absolutely nothing to lose.</p><p>"What was your plan if I didn't have duct tape on me?" He asks, "Seriously. Were you just planning to drag me here or something? Hit me over the head with a fire extinguisher?"</p><p>"There's still enough time to do that if you really want," Jisung mutters darkly, but Felix stops in his tracks. They've reached a supply cupboard - in a corridor that literally no one has ever walked down without being severely lost, nonetheless. What is this, some cheesy high-school drama? They're in Uni, shouldn't they at least have some originality with their ideas.</p><p>As Seungmin is pushed into the cupboard, he catches a glimpse of more people heading their way. Chan and Changbin have Minho by the legs, pulling him across the floor with quite some effort. Minho seems to be intent on causing them as much grief as possible. He even has his arms out behind him, dragging along and making the scene look even stranger.</p><p>It's only when he'd unceremoniously dumped into the cupboard with Seungmin that he actually gets up.</p><p>Changbin shuts the door behind them pretty quickly, even though neither Seungmin or Minho were actually going to try and escape in such a basic way. Someone yells, "Have fun, losers!", and then they're alone.</p><p>There's almost an entire forest above them. </p><p>Hanging from the ceiling of the poor cupboard appears to be all of the mistletoe that they'd been hanging across the Uni over the past couple of weeks. It's to the point where some of it didn't even fit onto the beams, and is lain strewn on the shelves around them.</p><p>Minho sighs. "Fancy seeing you here."</p><p>Seungmin is much straighter to the point. "Scissors?" he asks, lifting his bound hands up just enough to prove his point. Minho is quick to rifle through his shoulder bag, producing a pair and slicing through the duct tape with relative ease.</p><p>"Window?"</p><p>Because, of course their friends aren't smart enough to choose a cupboard without a window built into one of the walls. Even though they're pretty high up, both Minho and Seungmin have practiced scaling the walls of the Uni - just for situations like this. </p><p>One lock-picking set later and they're climbing down. The height is nothing less than a thrill, and they even catch a glance of their friends looking pleased with themselves through a different window. Minho gives them the middle finger as they descend, and Seungmin can't help but laugh as they remain oblivious to the fact that their captees have escaped.</p><p>"Maybe we should tell them that we're actually together some day," he says.</p><p>Minho grins back. Even though Seungmin had been the one to ask, he knows that there's no way - he's grinning back with just as fervour. "Are you kidding? We can torture them like this for <em>months</em>."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>why is this one so short? who knows.</p><p>anyway, this is for hajix3ma on twitter, who asked for mistletoe minbin</p><p>ENJOY!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Oh, look."</p><p>The entire kitchen groans. Hyunjin slams his spoon so hard down onto the table that a few drops of milk splash out from his bowl. Jisung, who had been about to steal some of his cereal, seems to lose all of his appetite. Seungmin doesn't stop looking at his phone, but he slouches further into his chair, knowing what's about to happen next. Chan immediately collapses face-first, while Jeongin - who had only just walked in - immediately turns around and walks back out again.</p><p>Felix is the only one who doesn't seem pained, although his smile is looks suspiciously stretched thin. "Guys," he says, "Not to be mean or anything, but can you... not?"</p><p>Minho rolls his eyes. It's a large movement, clearly not natural, and he hopes that it gets the point across well enough. "Excuse me?" he says, "I'm sorry, I didn't realise there was a ban on showing affection now."</p><p>"You weren't saying that last night, when you wanted a cuddle pile, Lix." Changbin is right by Minho's side, leaning on the doorframe. It's a slightly strange angle - surely it would be more comfortable to bend his knees a little, slouch a little further back - but Changbin doesn't want to appear any shorter than he actually is. Therefore, the angle that he's leaning at is about... five? degrees total.</p><p>"That's different!" Felix is quick to respond. And because he has the entire rest of the group on his side (minus Jeongin, who's probably made the only smart decision by leaving), there's a lot of nodding and exclaims of 'yeah'. "This is the <em>fifth time</em> this week."</p><p>There's a moment of silence.</p><p>"Lix!" Chan says, looking up from where he'd still be facing the table. He immediately buries his hands in his hair, "Why are you <em>counting?</em>"</p><p>Felix squawks in an attempt to defend himself. He doesn't get that far, since Jisung practically launches himself across the table in an attempt to stop him from saying anything else. At the same time, Hyunjin is already yelling- "It's only Tuesday!"</p><p>"Five times is a perfectly reasonable number," Minho says, unfolding his arms just so that he can fold them again. No one is actually watching the first time, so he ends up doing it all over again whenever someone glances over to him.</p><p>"Shut up!" Jisung yells. He'd managed to get halfway across the table. It's impressive, but nowhere near enough to actually reach Felix, who scooted backwards in his chair. Hyunjin reaches out and pushes Jisung off the table, whacking him in the back of his head with a spoon.</p><p>Almost in slow-motion, Jisung rolls over straight into Seungmin's lap. There's a shriek as he realises who he's just squashed, and then Seungmin slips away his phone and tackles him to the floor. They take Hyunjin with them, since he hadn't managed to move away quickly enough. It's only because Chan grabs the bowl of cereal and milk out of the way that it doesn't end up all over the floor.</p><p>Behind them, Jeongin walks past. He's put a pair of headphones over his ears, a large pair of black sunglasses resting on his nose. There's a momentary lapse in noise as they all stare at him. Unsurprisingly, he ignores them. He grabs a bowl of cereal, and scans the rest of the room.</p><p>The milk being held by Felix, who seems to be threatening to use it as a weapon if the mess of limbs that is Hyunjin, Jisung and Seungmin gets any closer. Jeongin looks down at his bowl, and most likely decides that it isn't worth it. He grabs his spoon and steals Jisung's recently vacated seat. </p><p>As soon as he sits down the room explodes again. </p><p>"Shut <em>up</em>!"</p><p>In the end, it's Changbin that gets all of their attention. He stops leaning on the doorframe and leans over to press a kiss to Minho's lips. </p><p>They stay there for a couple of seconds longer than necessary. Just long enough for the kids to start yelling out cries of disgust, Chan's cheeks to turn a shade of red rivalling tomatoes, and even Jeongin with his headphones and sunglasses to flinch.</p><p>"There," Changbin says, ignoring the fact that his own cheeks are flushing an undeniably pink colour, "If you didn't want us to kiss, then don't put the mistletoe up."</p><p>Minho has to hide his smile behind his hand. Even<em> he</em> had been surprised when it had been Changbin bringing an end to the chaos. Usually, he'd be jumping right on in there, wrestling on the floor with the rest of the kids. </p><p>It had been even more surprising when he'd been the one to initiate the kiss. Everything had seemed so slightly out of character, right up until-</p><p>"Oh, come on!" Chan cries, "We all know it's you putting them up! Literally! We all know!"</p><p>Even Jeongin takes the time to slide his headphones off of his ears (which begs the question; how did he know what they were saying in the first place if he 'wasn't listening'? Hmm?) and protest. "I saw you! I actually saw you stapling them to the ceiling this morning!"</p><p>Changbin grins. "No proof."</p><p>Jeongin screeches - actually screeches, his famous dolphin scream that he hasn't done for years - and is then immediately pulled under the table by the Hyunjin. Seungmin and Jisung seem to have given up wrestling and are now lying on top of each other, refusing to move.</p><p>"Minho is such a bad influence on you." Chan still hasn't moved from his position earlier. His hands are still in his hair, his cheeks still cherry-red. "I just want to eat breakfast in peace."</p><p>Minho can't help but laugh out loud. "That's the rules," he says, "Mistletoe means that we must kiss. If it just so happens that there always seems to be mistletoe above me n' my boyfriend? Well, then it's meant to be."</p><p>Changbin nods. "And who are we to ignore fate?" </p><p>"Melodramatic bitch," someone says from under the table. "Go back to writing lyrics."</p><p>Minho takes his slipper off and kicks it at full-force at the pile of limbs. There's a yelp, and then the voices that had been giggling and murmuring their agreement go back to being quiet. </p><p>Someone hums from beside them.</p><p>Changbin jumps a good few inches. Minho can't help but laugh again, as he can see that it's only Felix. He's made his way across the kitchen to them slowly, a frown on his face. He's obviously deep in thought. "Chan," he says, suddenly, "Would you say that I'm also under the mistletoe?"</p><p>Chan squints at them, finally removing his hands from his head. "Well, not really."</p><p>Felix grabs the sprig and pulls it over by a couple of centimetres. Changbin had been the one to hang it up, and he'd refused to admit that he might need to stand on something, so it had actually only been stapled to a position halfway up the wall. It's easy enough for Felix to grab and readjust.</p><p>"Would you say that I'm also under the mistletoe?" He repeats.</p><p>This time, Chan nods. "Yeah, I guess so."</p><p>"And did Minho just say that the rules meant that if you were under the mistletoe with someone, you <em>had </em>to kiss them?"</p><p>Uh oh.</p><p>Minho can see where this is going. Four faces have appeared from underneath the table, all lighting up with malice and mischief. Realisation is beginning to dawn on Chan's face as well, as he begins to stand up from his chair.</p><p>"Wait, what?" Changbin asks, "Wha-?</p><p>"Pucker up, bitch!" Felix yells, tackling them to the floor. He presses a smooch to Minho's cheek with just enough time before the others land on top of him, yelling war cries and smacking their own lips. </p><p>Minho shrieks, Changbin shrieks louder. Everyone is screaming, but it's mixed up with enough hysterical laughter that Minho can't help the tears of joy that begin to slip from his eyes. His ribs ache from the fact he has at least three bodies on top of him, from the fact that he's been laughing solidly for about five minutes now.</p><p>But he's still got Changbin's hand clutched tightly in his own, and he wouldn't change anything for the world.</p>
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<a name="section0016"><h2>16. dream boy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this was requested by StayGold, who asked for 'Minho wakes up really early on Christmas Day to prepare the dorms with a Christmas tree, decorations, hot cocoa and presents for the others as a surprise? Like, maybe he noticed how homesick and tired/stressed Chan and his younger brothers were, so he wanted to do something meaningful for them (despite being really tired himself). When the others wake up, they’re greatly surprised and their hearts go soft when they notice that Minho fell back asleep'</p><p>hope you like it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Minho woke up early.</p><p>It wasn't that he'd planned to wake up at - he checked the clock, 6 AM in the morning - but he'd certainly had the idea to. </p><p>His brain must have been working on it as he slept, ready to wake him up at around the right time. Similar things happened on tour - when they had an early deadline, it was quite common for most of the members to end up waking a few minutes before the alarm went off, simply because their bodies were expecting it.</p><p>And Minho had definitely been thinking about waking up early last night.</p><p>He must have been the only one. They'd gotten back from a schedule much later than they'd originally hoped - some filming have overrun by a couple of hours, and instead of letting them go to finish it the next day (since it was Christmas, and they were already three days over schedule in the first place), the decision had been made to simply try and complete it whilst they were all still there.</p><p>It meant that they'd ended up arriving back at the dorms a full five hours later than they'd planned. Completely and utterly exhausted, on Christmas Eve nonetheless. They'd only just had enough energy to pull mattresses and blankets into one of the bedrooms so that they could all snuggle, and then they'd all passed out.</p><p>Minho had been one of them, but he'd already had his idea by that point.</p><p>In the morning, they'd pulled out boxes of Christmas decorations. Since they'd been filming all week, they hadn't had the chance to decorate the dorms properly. A member of staff had dropped off their tree, but it had been sat in the corner of the room completely empty for days. </p><p>That was their job for Christmas Eve. When they finished filming, they were going to come home and decorate. They'd have enough time - even longer if everything well and they could finish slightly early - and then everything would be all perfect for Christmas Day. They'd piled all the boxes of decorations and lights that they could find into the corridor, ready to be opened.</p><p>Except, they'd all been too tired when they’d finally gotten back home. No one had looked twice at the piles of boxes, barely able to stumble to the bathroom to take off their make-up and brush their teeth. The exhaustion of such a busy week had set in hard, and the combination with the disappointment of arriving back so late certainly hadn't made anything easier.</p><p>That was where Minho came in.</p><p>He hadn't gotten up so early yesterday, like the rest of the members. Some of his parts had gone well the previous day, and so he'd been allowed to sleep in. He got a ride with some staff members to the set at a more reasonable time of the day, and therefore he wasn't as tired as anyone else.</p><p>That was when he'd had the idea. It had been playing on his mind all night, and now that he was awake at the perfect time to set it into motion? Well, he decided that it was his responsibility to save Christmas.</p><p>It was easy to leave the bedroom without anyone waking. The other members were so tired that Minho was confident they could sleep through anything at this point. He'd made sure to be quiet as he crossed the room and shut the door behind him, but he wasn't surprised when no one woke up.</p><p>He was still tired himself, but this would be worth it.</p><p>His fluffy socks were quiet against the wooden floors of the dorms. He was almost completely silent as he made his way into the corridor, methodically opening box after box and placing the decorations into corresponding piles. His fingers ached after placing bauble after bauble onto the tree, stringing up light after light around the room, but it was worth it.</p><p>Even now, after about an hour and a half's work, it looked beautiful.</p><p>He stumbled back, hitting the seat of the sofa with the back of his legs. Honestly, the sight took his breath away. He could already imagine the looks on the members' faces as they woke up, entering the room and expecting nothing, only to find... everything.</p><p>He still had a ball of lights in his hand, but a few more minutes admiring wouldn't hurt, right? It didn't matter if he took a short break, not when the sofa was so comfortable and Minho was so tired.</p><p>It would all be worth it for the others. It was beautiful. </p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>Chan rubbed his eyes. </p><p>He'd woken up suddenly - the type of awakening where you don't even realise your eyes are open for a couple of seconds. At first, he had assumed that something much have woken up. Most likely one of the other members; it was highly likely that someone had woken up at 3 AM and had simply being messing around since then, gradually getting louder now that it was a more sensible time.</p><p>Even if they hadn't woken up early, it was just as likely to be someone getting breakfast. Chan checked the time on his alarm clock to make sure. It was 8 in the morning, a perfectly reasonable time to be waking up (even if Chan himself was usually dead to the world until at least 11).</p><p>It was only when his eyes adjusted to the light that he finally figures out the massive hole in his plan.</p><p>The rest of the members were <em>here</em>.</p><p>As in, in the room with him. In his early-morning haze he'd forgotten what day it was, and that last night they'd all piled into the room together. After being busy all day, it had been the least they could do to push a bunch of mattresses onto the floor, grabbing pillows and blankets and passing out. They were still asleep now. Even with Chan's racing heart and how loud he must have been when he first woke up, no one else seems to have been disturbed.</p><p>Which then posed an entirely different question. He could make out at least five different pairs of limbs, and the shapes of bodies underneath the sheets could easily be hiding two more people. Ruling out himself left one very big problem: what had been the noise to wake him in the first place?</p><p>And why had it been completely silent since then?</p><p>Chan knew he wasn't getting to sleep again. Straining his eyes to read the glowing numbers on his clock had been too similar to actually concentrating, and the fog of sleep was already leaving. He had too many questions, and the fact that it was Christmas Day certainly wasn't helping either.</p><p>Trying to be as quiet as possible, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.</p><p>-only to immediately step on someone's hand. The hissed, "Sorry!" came out before he could stop himself. And either way, the person who he'd just trodden on certainly wasn't going to remain asleep for much longer. They pulled back right as he spoke - rolling right into the person beside them, Felix. It was all Chan could do to watch as the tangle of limbs began to move, each person having been pushed or moving and accidentally pushing away someone else. </p><p>Before he knew it, several pairs of eyes were staring back at him. Not happily, either. There were several curse words being thrown around by minds too sleep-addled to care who they were being thrown at, and even more people just staring blankly into the distance. </p><p>And maybe it had been built into Chan. Maybe it was because he did it all the time, maybe it was on instinct, because the first thing he did was count the tired faces in the room.</p><p>Six.</p><p>And - it was early morning, and Chan's maths skills weren't great at the best of times - but he could’ve sworn that six add one did <em>not</em> equal eight. </p><p>Which meant several things. One, that he likely <em>had</em> been woken up by someone moving around the dorm - although how long they'd been up and how they'd managed to escape the cuddle pile was still a mystery. And two, to do what?</p><p>He might have understood if it were a normal day, but it wasn't. It was Christmas. Why on earth would they get up on <em>Christmas Day </em>and not wake anyone else?</p><p>"Kids," he said, before his brain could kick in and actually tell him that he could pretty easily work out who was missing just by looking at their faces, "It's Christmas."</p><p>They'd maybe, probably, definitely forgotten. As Chan stood up, several of the tired people were quick to join him, a sudden rush of energy causing them to forget how sleep-deprived they'd been before. Together, they managed to pull the last couple of members to their feet, and then the six of them trailed after Chan through the bedroom door.</p><p>And-</p><p>Ah. </p><p>Suddenly, it didn't seem that mysterious anymore. The dorm was covered in decorations; hanging from every available surface, lined up on the windowsill, sparkling on the tree. There were strings of coloured lights across the walls and the counters, wrapping around the room and bathing it in softly glowing light.</p><p>It was beautiful. And, more importantly, the boxes that had been placed out and forgotten were now empty.</p><p>The other members were all still gasping in awe. They watched as the light glittered off the wrapping paper, as the early morning snowflakes were still fat and falling fast outside in the streets. </p><p>But Chan wasn't looking at any of those things.</p><p>He was looking at Minho - completely passed out on the sofa, a string of lights still in his hands - and he grinned as an overwhelming pride overtook his body. </p>
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<a name="section0017"><h2>17. all for you (never not for you)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this is for hajix3ma on twitter, who asked for a baby innie tree-decorating oneshot. It's based on the universe of <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24147328/chapters/58144309">bs52</a> , but you should be able to read it without any background knowledge.</p><p>enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jeongin is two, which means that he's suddenly become incredibly determined. In the span of a couple of short months, he seems to have completely grown up. Having gone from their perfect little angel, to- </p><p>Well.</p><p>Minho would say that he's always been an angel. He'd say that nothing has changed, and that Jeongin's habit of saying 'no' at varying different volumes instead of actually replying is endearing. He'd say that Jeongin has never, ever done any wrong in his entire life. </p><p>Changbin would argue that Jeongin has always been a little demon in disguise.</p><p>Right from the moment he arrived at their house, there'd been cunning behind those tiny button-eyes. His lip had curled with mischief as soon as he was old enough to smile, and when he'd run around the house, his 'exploring' always seemed to turn into 'making a mess'.</p><p>Just like most two-year-olds, he's learning. He has two dads that are completely whipped for him, ready to follow around his every move and smother him in love and affection. That won't stop him from yelling and screaming, because that's just what toddlers do. It won't stop him from crinkling his eyes up from laughter when he manages to cut holes into all of Changbin's trousers, or when he demands to decorate the entire tree by himself, because that's just Jeongin.</p><p>Their adorable, definitely-not-a-demon kid.</p><p>Changbin can't help but step forwards, though, frowning. "Don't you think we should help?"</p><p>Minho had already put a hand out to stop him. He's sat on the sofa, curled up in the corner and head leaning against the side of Changbin's legs. There's a half-full glass of red wine in his hand, although he hasn't drunk enough of it since they've been in the living room. Changbin is pretty sure it's just for the Christmas aesthetic, but he finds the thought too amusing to call him out. </p><p>"Just let him be," he says. </p><p>Minho doesn't seem bothered that Jeongin has monopolised every single decoration in the house. In fact, Changbin is pretty sure that he'd been the one to plant the idea into Jeongin's head in the first place.</p><p>That, being the problem.</p><p>The two-year-old, determined Jeongin who'd decided the entire world was against him, had announced that he was going to decorate the tree all by himself. He'd spent a good ten minutes tugging every box into the corner so that his parents couldn't reach it - even if they could, it was literally five steps away - and was now sorting through the sparkly baubles. </p><p>He'd turned his head as Changbin spoke. When he realises what they might be talking about, he tugs the boxes a little closer to himself. They're too heavy to be moved properly. When Minho had taken him to the kitchen for a glass of warm milk, Changbin had pushed most of them to where Jeongin had been aiming for. When he returned, he was completely oblivious.</p><p>They'd probably tricked him into thinking he was the strongest two-year-old in the world, or something. </p><p>"Look at him go." Minho's voice is hushed, not that it would matter. Jeongin is too absorbed in his task to pay attention to what they're saying. Unless they actually mention his name, there's no way that he'll overhear them. "He's working so hard." </p><p>Changbin sighs. He gently hooks his fingers around Minho's head, lifting his neck up slightly. Minho uses the momentum to shift his position so that his weight isn't resting on him anymore, and Changbin rounds the sofa to sit next to him. "I feel like he's going to break something."</p><p>Minho simply smiles. "I hid all the glass ones when you took him to the loo, earlier."</p><p>In front of them, Jeongin seems to be inspecting the differences between two identical silver baubles. They're both as glittery and sparkly as the other, but he seems so sure that they're different. Eventually, he ends up dropping both and grabbing a-</p><p>Well, calling it a bauble is probably too generous. It's actually a laminated circle of paper, coloured in with bright pink crayon. Jeongin's name is written in huge letters - and by name, Changbin means a wobbly scribble in pencil - on the back. There's a hole punched through the top, and a ribbon strung through it.</p><p>Jeongin's face lights up as he pulls it out of the box. He stands up so quickly that he almost stumbles, and then makes his way over to the tree.</p><p>"Place a bet on which branch he's going to hang it on," Minho leans over and whispers, hand over the mouth for added effect.</p><p>Changbin can't help but smile in return. He nudges Minho gently - so to not spill his wine - but whispers back any way. "It's too much of a hard choice. There are just so many options."</p><p>The problem with letting a two-year-old decorate the tree is that two-year-olds aren't very tall.</p><p>Jeongin included. He only has little arms that match his little body, and even on tiptoes he can't reach that far up. He's still got his two-year-old determination though, and his insistence that he 'can do it himself' means that he refuses to ask either of his dads for help.</p><p>He hasn't even brought over something to stand on, not that Changbin would let him get that far. In fact, it doesn't appear that Jeongin is bothered at all by the fact that tree only has decorations on the bottom two branches.</p><p>They're hanging dangerously close to the floor with how heavy they've become. There are just too many sparkly objects and not enough room, and Jeongin couldn't care less about whether they're equally distributed or not. He'd stood up on tip-toes to place a couple on the third and fourth branches, but everything above that is simply...</p><p>Empty.</p><p>It's a comedic sight. The bottom few branches sagging from the weight of the decorations, and the rest of the tree completely bare. Minho had managed to place a star on the top of the tree whilst Jeongin hadn't been looking, but that was the only other ornament. The only reason it had survived Jeongin's inspection was because he couldn't look up that far, and he hadn't taken enough steps backwards to focus on anything other than the glittery mess on the lower branches. </p><p>Almost at the same time, Changbin and Minho look at each other. Jeongin hangs the laminated paper bauble onto the tree, and both his dads are trying to hold back fits of laughter just a couple of feet away.</p><p>"We can always just... reorganise when he goes to sleep," Changbin offers. </p><p>Minho looks scandalised at the suggestion. "You're gonna deprive him of all that hard work he's done? Babe, he's been at this for <em>hours.</em>"</p><p>"Trust me, I know," Changbin says, "But the cats, don't they just attack the ones at the bottom? If they're all at the bottom, surely that's just asking for disaster."</p><p>"Ouch," Minho holds a hand over his heart, "First you come for my baby, and now you come for my cats?"</p><p>His smile is even more beautiful in the low light of the living room. His cheeks are flushed pink from the wine, his hair almost shining. He's just as dazzling as the first time Changbin truly looked at him, and the sharp tongue that he fell in love with hasn't changed at all.</p><p>They'll have to put up tinsel and lights at some point. Changbin can get Jeongin a chair - he'll have to accept help for the lights, he doesn't know how to put them up by himself - and by that point he'll have gotten over his mission to decorate the entire tree by himself. </p><p>Changbin smiles. </p><p>It's perfect. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>lets get this bread</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"This is... Jisung."</p><p>Beside him, Jisung grins wide. He shows all of his teeth off, but manages not to make it seem overwhelming or shark-like. Maybe it's the fact that one of his front teeth is slightly crooked, or that his smile always seems to form a heart shape. Jisung's smile is one of his best qualities. It's why Minho asked him to come along. </p><p>That, and the fact that he's a natural smooth-talker. </p><p>The other members of their friendship group are... well, it's hard to describe. Seungmin cuts too close to the edge, sprinting down the line between rude and endearingly sharp. Jeongin still looks too much like a child for Minho to feel comfortable with. Chan is awkward - all eye bags and flushed cheeks. Changbin and Hyunjin are unapproachable even if their true personalities are anything but. Felix is sweet, which is exactly why no one would believe the lie for more than a couple of seconds. </p><p>In most ways, it had to be Jisung as soon as Minho had come up with the idea.</p><p>He was smiley. Hyper and too enthusiastic most of the time, but he cleaned up nicely once Minho had blackmailed him into wearing a suit. He had enough chemistry with Minho that they could play off each other, the friendly banter could easily be mistaken as something else. And - as mentioned before - his grin could charm the socks off of anyone.</p><p>He was quick with his tongue, as well.</p><p>Jisung could be just as socially anxious as anyone else, but he tended to gain confidence when it was for the benefit of someone else. With Minho beside him, smiles plastered over their faces and glasses of alcohol politely in their hands, he looked perfectly in place.</p><p>"Jisung," Minho's mother passed her champagne glass to her other hand and leant over to pat Jisung on the shoulder. It looked like she'd been on her way to shake his hand, and then realised how formal that would have seemed half-way though. "It's so lovely to finally meet you!"</p><p>Jisung's smile widens. He leans onto Minho ever so slightly, and ever so naturally. "I feel the same! I know how close Minho is with his family - really, it's an honour to finally get to know you all."</p><p>Minho's mother preens at the words. Her shoulders straighten, and she grips her glass a little tighter. Are her cheeks flushed, or is it the light of the party? It's only early in the night, but the December skies are already completely dark. The stars are completely visible through the huge glass doors, sparkling and twinkling from millions of miles away. </p><p>As expected, Jisung's absolute lie goes completely undetected.</p><p>His mother is too caught up in giggling at everything Jisung - Minho's handsome, young 'boyfriend' - says, that she completely misses the way that Minho's entire body is rigid. The way that his smile is plastered over his face. His eyes never once leave her, and his hands are shaking so badly that he's had to drink some of the alcohol to stop himself from spilling it.</p><p>It's not that he doesn't like his family.</p><p>They're not bad people. Sure, they have a little too much money that they spend on stupid Christmas parties like this, instead of actually doing anything worthwhile. They gave him all the attention he needed growing up, and taught him everything he needed to know about the world. They're pretty forward-thinking for a family with such old money. It's how they've managed to survive this long.</p><p>And yet Minho still manages to be the outcast. He can't see the point in parties that exist simply to chat about business, he doesn't like talking to people just for the connections that come with knowing the right people. Jisung hadn't grown up with money like this, and yet he still manages to blend in after five minutes more than Minho ever has.</p><p>"I was beginning to think that Minho was never going to find someone to settle down with," his mother continues, "Imagine! With how he was acting, you'd think it was the most difficult thing in the world! I'm so glad that he finally brought you to visit." She pauses, looking down at the champagne and frowning slightly- "Did I already say that?"</p><p>For the first time, Jisung's smile falters. It's only for a second, and nowhere near enough for anyone to notice the change in his composure, but it's there all the same.</p><p>There's a reason why they're both here in the first place.</p><p>If it was really all that easy, he wouldn't have to have brought Jisung along as his pretend date.</p><p>He'd have a girlfriend or a boyfriend and they'd laugh together in the corner of the room. The lights and the tinsel would seem magical, the alcohol in their glasses would warm their insides - but nowhere near as much as their company did. The Christmas tree in the centre of the room would stand as tall as Minho, and maybe he'd finally feel like he fit in. </p><p>But Minho - he's never been able to imagine that. </p><p>He's not sure that he <em>wants </em>to imagine that.</p><p> He still thinks that the lights and the tinsel are beautiful. He enjoys Jisung's company - they make each other laugh, they get along like a house on fire and Minho thinks they could easily be friends for all eternity.  He stands proud when he wants to, he can carry himself with that same effortless confidence. </p><p>And yet he's never felt quite right with what's expected from him. Everyone telling him that it's not 'right' to have no one beside him. They expect him to fill an empty place in his heart, and yet Minho isn't quite sure that there's ever been anything empty in the first place. </p><p>He just wants to show them his friends. How close he is with his cats and all the kids at the kindergarten he volunteers at. He doesn't understand why he'd need anything more than that, when he already feels at home with them. </p><p>Jisung says something, and his mother laughs. She tucks some of her hair behind an ear, and then pats Jisung's shoulder again. Minho hasn't been listening. He's not sure for how long, but it must have been a while, since she moves away after that, starting to talk to the next few people standing against the wall. </p><p>Just like that, Jisung immediately turns to face Minho. "Dude," he says, dropping the polite tone and slipping back into his accent easily, "You okay?"</p><p>Minho is... still figuring himself out. </p><p>There's no empty place in his heart, he knows that. His friends know that. His parents not so much, but he's sure he'll get their eventually. </p><p>He smiles. "I'm fine."</p><p>And he is. He's completely fine. </p><p>He'd been nervous, before this. He hadn't wanted to come to his parents' stupid Christmas party, he'd had to use all his best blackmail material to persuade Jisung to come just because he was too scared to be alone. (He knew that Jisung would have come anyway, but the line between jokes and sincerity had been slightly blurred with anxiety at that point)</p><p>He's not sure where this confidence has come from, but it bleeds truth when his face lights up. Jisung reflects it - a true mirror to the emotions of the people around him.</p><p>Together, they make eye-contact and then immediately drain their glasses. </p><p>The worst part of it is over. The lights are stunning, the stars outside are beautiful, and Minho is feeling more comfortable with himself than he ever has before. His body hums with energy, and the feeling of utter relief lifts him five feet off the ground.</p><p>"Chocolate fountain?" He says, and then laughs loudly when Jisung grabs his hand to pull him towards it. </p><p>It's Christmas, after all. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. white elephant</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this one's for kitkat_tat, who asked for 'white elephant game !! just soft skz hanging out and opening gifts &lt;3'</p><p>not sure if this is exactly what you were hoping for rip, but i ran out of time to actually write them opening anything</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Okay, so maybe this was all Jeongin's fault.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It certainly hadn't been at the start. When they'd all argued about setting up the annual Secret Santa, he would have done anything to get them to all shut up. Yelling about who'd organised it last year, who'd organised it the year before, even down to who gave the worst presents. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Minho had said that Secret Santa was too boring. He had a good gift idea for a couple of people, so why couldn't they all buy gifts individually for once? It wasn't like they had many other people to buy for, and it didn't have to be anything expensive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan had immediately shot it down.<em> No way,</em> he'd said, <em>I'm not buying for everyone. You already complain about what I buy for one person, there's no way I'm letting you all complain at me.</em></span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>That's the point!</span>
  </em>
  <span> Minho had fired right back, <em>whoever you end up with usually gets a shit present! At least this way it's more equal, since we all get a shit present.</em></span>
</p><p>
  <span>That's what had given Jeongin the idea in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd been so foolish, so naive, and they definitely shouldn't have listened to him. But past-Jeongin had decided that this was a dire situation. Such a dire situation, in fact, that he'd needed to use his famous puppy-dog eyes. No one had been able to resist them, and so his suggestion had been taken on with no protests. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd suggested that instead of playing Secret Santa, they put a spin on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd heard about different versions before. A friend group he'd had a couple of years ago had played something called 'white elephant'. It hadn't worked out very well, with half the people fighting the day before the gift giving and refusing to meet up. Jeongin had never actually gotten around to finding out how most of the game worked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, he'd suggested it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anything to get his friends to shut up and give him a little bit of peace and quiet. They could argue like this for hours if they weren't stopped. And Felix and Seungmin had gone out for ice-cream; once they came back, the shouting would start all over again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And now he was stuck here - definitely <em>not </em>admitting that this entire situation was entirely down to him - and listening to Hyunjin reading the Wikipedia article on how to actually play white elephant. They got the whole joke-gift thing, that was easy enough, but Stray Kids and following the rules properly wasn't a very good combination. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay," Hyunjin said, shifting his body until his legs were stretched out in front of him. They were about an inch away from Jisung's thigh, a fact that he didn't look very happy about, but had been told to shut up because Hyunjin was the only one with battery life on his phone. "So, we've got the gifts in the middle of the room, right?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho rolled his eyes. "We've read this bit like a thousand times already," he said, "Get a move on."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm just making sure!" Hyunjin protested, but scrolled slightly further down his screen. "Next we need to decide the order that we'll be selecting them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Immediately, the room erupted into chaos. Surely it was nothing to do with the fact that they’d had nothing but sugar the entire day, Jeongin thought. Although, he wouldn't be surprised if they were still acting like this after only eating... broccoli or something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Cutest first!" Jisung crowed, jumping to his feet for more emphasis, "That means me, by the way!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Is that a challenge?" Changbin was right up beside him. There was a moment of pure agonising realisation before Changbin immediately started doing an aegyo routine. He didn't get far - Seungmin tackled him to the ground before he could actually start speaking, and Jisung was quick to keep him pinned down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We should do it by age," Chan said, leaning back when Changbin's legs flailed slightly too close to his face, "Either oldest to youngest, or youngest to oldest."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wouldn't it make more sense to just go in a clockwise direction?" Minho fired right back. He probably didn't have a problem with any of the methods of selection, and just wanted to be obtuse. It worked, since Chan launched into a speech in response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Guys," Jeongin said, "We can just randomise our names if you're gonna argue like this."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stopped. He wasn't even using his puppy-dog eyes, and yet they all immediately paused to listen to what he has to say. Huh. Maybe Jeongin has more power than he originally thought. He filed that thought away to use for some sort of mischief later. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin sighed, as their heads all swivelled towards him. Felix leaned over and grabbed a whiteboard and pen from who-knows-where, and they all listened eagerly as Hyunjin listed out names. Jeongin was slightly worried that someone was going to accuse him of making up the names - he was the only one with a phone, it would have been easy to do so - but the thought likely didn't cross their minds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What's next?" Seungmin asked, once they'd shuffled around the circle so that they were now sitting in the order to choose. Jeongin didn't end up moving along, neither did Hyunjin, since he was where they were basing their positions off of, but the rest of the members took their sweet time in arguing about space and moving their small piles of belongings. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wikipedia says the first person chooses a gift, and then opens it. The people after them have to make a choice between stealing that present or unwrapping a new one."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin frowned. "What does the person do if they decide to steal?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I was<em> getting</em> to that," Hyunjin hissed, and Chan pulled Changbin backwards until he was relegated to the very edge of the circle. "The person who was stolen from also gets to choose whether to open a new gift or steal. But each gift can only be stolen once every turn. So, choose wisely, I guess."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were a few beats of silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were all trying to take in the information at the same time. Jeongin frowned, and then hoped no one noticed the change in his expression. He didn't remember the game sounding this complicated when his friends had explained it to him, although he admittedly hadn't been paying much attention at the time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Considering the looks on the other members faces now, he just hoped that no one remembered that it was actually him to suggest the game. He's not sure that even his puppy-dog eyes could get him out of that one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"This is so complicated!" Felix cried, pouting slightly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung nudges him. "Shut up and get to opening. It'll probably be easier when we actually start playing."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Knowing what he had contributed to the pile in the centre of the room, Jeongin wasn't quite sure that he'd agree. And he wasn't underestimating the present-buying skills of his friends - the fact that it was supposed to be stupid and hard to get rid of had probably made them put more effort into finding something than they would for normal years. They just loved to make each other's lives hell, apparently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As soon as a gift was opened, Jeongin knew that they'd immediately burst right into chaotic screaming and arguing again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In fact, he was counting on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe it was all his fault. Maybe he had known that the gift-giving would be just this badly organised and stupid, maybe he'd known that there was no way anyone was getting out of this situation without suffering.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And maybe he wouldn't want it any other way. It was Christmas, after all. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. quiet motions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this is for binchansuperior 'changbin just want to spend xmas with his bf chan but chan still had to work til late so when he got home changbin already sleeping on the coach waiting for him. he felft bad so he make sure changbin was showered with love and affection he deserved. aka just a lot of cuddle and kiss and sweet stuffs'</p><p>hope this is okay!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s all that Changbin’s had been looking forward to, really. For the last couple of weeks, his work had been hell. The weather had been even worse, making it almost impossible to get to even the bus stop without getting soaked, and apparently the customers seemed to be working together to conspire against him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin had told Chan all of this. He’d had bags under his eyes, as they’d curled up to watch a movie together, and he’d barely even had the energy to pick up the remote to turn over the television channels. Chan had had to carry him to bed, and Changbin had practically passed out as soon as his head hit the pillows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Christmas was what they were both aiming for.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d both taken Christmas Day off, as well as the next three days afterwards. They’d decided that it was worth working Christmas Eve if they got to spend longer in each other’s company afterwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This is what they’d been working towards. Thinking about, using as a motivation to get through the rainy weather and inconsiderate people. Changbin had started planning towards the end of November - that’s how long he’d been hanging onto this last thread of hope.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After all, they had big plans.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d start the day off with a lie in. It would probably feel strange - Christmas was so used to being up and awake as soon as possible - but it’s what they were looking forward to. No alarms to get them to wake up for work, nothing forcing them to leave the warm sanctuary of their blankets.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They could simply lie there and enjoy each other’s company for as long as they liked. In that halfway state between consciousness and dreaming, just chatting, laughing and being held in each other's arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they eventually got up, it’d be because they wanted to, not because they had to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Presents would come next - or maybe hot chocolate. It wouldn’t be right to start the day with coffee, but hot cocoa would be just as good of a substitute in warming their bones. Chan is an expert at making the best hot chocolate. He could make it the perfect mix between sweet and milky, and then they’d sit on the sofa all curled up, blowing the steam away from the mugs in order to get them to cool down slightly quicker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin would sit on the floor and pass Chan’s presents to him, whilst opening his own. They’d end up in a pile of brightly-coloured paper that wouldn’t be cleaned up for days. Eat chocolate, cook a proper Christmas dinner, and then laugh until it was night-time all over again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unfortunately, that wasn't the way that things were shaping up to be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thanks, again." Chan's boss patted him on the shoulder. "I seriously wouldn't know what to do without you. You're a lifesaver, you know that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan has to bite back a pretty strongly-worded retort. It's not like he's here of his own accord, and suggesting that is actually pretty condescending. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had just so happened that one of his co-workers had suddenly been unable to turn up for their shift. Chan, who was supposed to have ended his own shift over three hours ago, had been the only one who was a suitable replacement. He'd already been at the restaurant, so he wasn't even given the chance to think of an excuse. Instead, his boss had practically ordered him to stay behind, and Chan had been too shy to refuse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd texted Changbin, telling him the news, and received a sad face emoji in response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It sucked. Sure, he was on extra pay and it meant he was more likely to be promoted in the new year, but he'd much rather be home with his boyfriend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin had said that he'd wait up for him. He usually got home an hour after Chan anyway, so he'd only be alone for an extra hour. He'd messaged Chan a selfie of himself, all bundled up in soft pyjamas and curled in front of the TV, and Chan had smiled at it throughout the whole of his five-minute break. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's what had kept him going up until right now, where he finally got to leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No problem," he says, but dodges his boss when it looks like he's going to be patted on the back again. "But I've got to be going now. It's pretty late."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, of course!" Chan's boss grins. He's intimidating - that's why Chan had been so unable to say no to him, but he isn't heartless. "Here, take this!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He's passed a small paper bag of- Chan looks inside - chocolate cookies. He recognises them from the desserts menu. The restaurant is still open for a few more hours, and by the warmth seeping through the thin brown paper, it doesn't even seem like they're leftovers. "Oh. Thank you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I already said, I wouldn't know what to do without you." He grins again, and then pushes Chan towards the back entrance, "Now, go and get on home!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door closes behind him, shutting Chan out into the freezing street. He starts walking almost immediately - the picture of Changbin burnt into his mind as motivation. He'll be happy to see Chan home, and even happier to see the warm cookies in his hands. They might have cooled down by the time he reaches the apartment, but they can always stick them in the microwave for a couple of seconds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With that in mind, the bus journey home seems to be finished in a matter of seconds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It takes even less time for him to make his way up the stairs to their floor, and then after that it feels like he's immediately opening the door to their apartment and stepping inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm home!" He calls, when Changbin doesn't pounce on him as soon as he'd heard the key in the lock. "And guess what! I brought coo-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His voice dies in the throat. Turns out, there's a reason why Changbin hadn't started speaking to him as soon as he'd stepped through the doorway. That reason being the fact that he is very much asleep on the sofa.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There's a half-full mug in front of him. The television is still on, albeit playing very quietly. The flickering colours send flashes of light across his face, so Chan steps forward and uses the remote to turn it off. Changbin has a blanket draped over him, but he's shifted in sleep until it's barely hanging off one of his arms. His head is thrown back into the space between the arm and the back cushion, and only one of his legs is actually on the sofa.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe he should have been disappointed. This is what he'd been looking forward to, after all. He'd been keeping this moment as his motivation to get through an extra three hours of work, this was supposed to be the start of their perfectly planned Christmas. Changbin had even promised that he'd stay awake, and then they could cuddle in front of the TV for a while.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This isn't what he'd planned at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And yet, when he looks at Changbin, all he can think of is how badly he's fallen for the man in front of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As long as it's with him, his Christmas can't help but be perfect anyway. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. (not) alone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>Jeongin practically sprints down the hall to his apartment.</p><p>His school bag is heavy on his back, still full of books from the day he'd just had. It seemed like the universe had conspired against him to fill his timetables with all the worst subjects on Fridays. Even the classes that would usually be classified as mediocre were pushed down a couple of levels by the size of the textbooks he was required to bring to school. </p><p>It can't be fair to give twelve-year-olds that much work, he's decided, but his teachers seem to disagree. </p><p>Even though he'd taken the bus back home today, the two-minute walk from the bus stop to his apartment building was more than enough to make his back hurt. He could feel the edges of his maths workbook pressing against his spine, and his chemistry book hadn't fit in with everything else he'd tried to cram in, so he'd had to carry it in his arms the whole way.</p><p>Oh well. Fridays were usually redeemable, because it was the weekend immediately afterwards. And this Friday was especially tolerable.</p><p>It was the last day of term.</p><p>Honestly, that was all that had been keeping Jeongin going. The only reason that he hadn't fallen asleep in music was because he was watching the clock creep ever closer to 3:00. When the final bell had rung, he'd been one of the first out of his seats, flying out of the classroom as soon as the teacher had dismissed them.</p><p>Now that he was finally done with school, it could feel like Christmas.</p><p>"You're back already?" </p><p>A voice called him from down the hallway. Jeongin hadn't noticed the open door when he'd passed, but he'd also been running at the speed of sound in his attempt to get home a little quicker. Besides, he wouldn't put it past - who was it that had spoken? Chan, maybe? - them to wait around for the moment that he got back from school. </p><p>"Honestly, what do they even do these days?"</p><p>Okay, that voice was definitely Minho. He lived in the apartment opposite Chan's, so maybe they'd been in the same room when he'd run past, or at least opened the doors to have a conversation when they'd seen he'd arrived back. </p><p>Jeongin didn't think that Minho ever really left his door open. He was too afraid of his cats getting out, apparently, although Jeongin doubted that that was ever going to happen. The animals loved the old man as much as he loved them, and they were much too fat to actually get far.</p><p>(Not that Jeongin would ever say that to Minho's face, of course. For an eighty-year-old, he could certainly move fast when it came to defending his cats.)</p><p>"It's the last day of school!" He calls out, as he skids to a halt in front of his door. He swings his bag over his shoulder, wincing when it hits a little hard. His keys are easy to find, and it's even easier to shove them into the lock. "I'll be out soon, just gotta put my stuff away!"</p><p>The apartment is empty when he steps inside.</p><p>It always is.</p><p>Jeongin loves his mom, and he understands that she has to work a lot of the time, but it still hurts to enter an empty room every single day. He feels like he sees her less and less at the moment, but maybe that's because she always has to work more at the holidays. She leaves early and gets home even later, and when she gets back, she's always too tired to talk.</p><p>Sure enough, there's a handwritten note on the kitchen counter. Jeongin kicks his shoes off and throws his bag onto the sofa, picking up the note and scanning it on his way to get a glass of water. </p><p><em>Jeongin, work asked me to cover another shift. I know that I promised I'd be back today,</em> it says, <em>but the hospital really needs nurses, and the pay is too good to pass up. I'll be there tomorrow, honey, I promise this time. Love, Mom.</em></p><p>Jeongin folds it up. He finishes his glass of water, though it's not nearly as satisfying now that he's read the note. He's not sure why he's disappointed. He wasn't expecting her to be back anyway. Even though she promises that she'll be back the next time, something else always manages to come up. </p><p>It's all he can hope for that she's actually there for Christmas. </p><p>Oh well.</p><p>There's not much point in dwelling on it, not when he can't change anything. He empties his books onto the sofa - if she's not back then she can't exactly tell him off for it - and dumps his lunchbox and water bottle into the sink. </p><p>It hurts that his Mom isn't there, but he's more than used to it at this point. In fact, he's managed to be practically adopted by the seven other people on his apartment floor, and they're more than happy to listen to him complain about his day. </p><p>The thing about this area of Seoul is that it's quite cheap to live in. The apartments are small, not aimed for families, and it's far enough from the universities that there aren't any students either. Jeongin and his mother are some of the only people here who aren't over seventy, and the other people in the flats aren't any exceptions. </p><p>"You call that soon?" Minho yells as soon as Jeongin steps back outside, jamming his keys in his pocket and shutting the door behind him. "Even Changbin managed to get here in the time that it took you to come back!"</p><p>That's not quite true. Jeongin can just about see the back of Changbin's Zimmer frame as he shuffles into Chan's apartment, and simply rolls his eyes in response. "Sorry, I forgot that life speeds up as you get older. That probably felt like a couple of milliseconds to you, old man."</p><p>It's not his best comeback, not by far, but Minho still snorts with laughter. "With how slowly you're walking down that corridor, I'm not sure people could tell which one of us is older."</p><p>Jeongin picks up the pace, sprinting all the way to Chan's apartment just to prove a point.</p><p>"Wow," he says, "Sure feels good to run without cracking a rib."</p><p>Minho shoves him inside, ignoring the way that Jeongin giggles the whole time. "Brat."</p><p>He's quickly ushered over to his designated seat. It's actually a footstall, but Chan's apartment didn't have room for an eighth chair, and Jeongin immediately gets the worst end of the stick, simply because he's seventy years younger than anyone else in the room.</p><p>Chan has taken his armchair, as normal. Hyunjin and Jisung are crammed together onto the sofa - a match made in hell, but much too funny for anyone to actually do anything about changing the seating plan. Changbin has the other armchair, Zimmer frame perched in front of him. Felix and Seungmin have pulled over chairs from the kitchen. Minho makes his way over to the sofa as well, getting Hyunjin to move over until there's enough room for the three of them.</p><p>"Jeongin!" Felix says, smiling like usual. Also like usual, he has a large plate of baked goods on the table behind him, which he offers out to Jeongin. "Brownie?"</p><p>Felix's brownies are by far the best in the entire world. His cookies are also pretty high up on that list, although the one time he'd accidentally added salt instead of sugar still manages to haunt Jeongin's nightmares. </p><p>"They're not pot this time," Seungmin says. "Trust me, I was quite disappointed."</p><p>Felix waits until Jeongin has taken one, before jabbing his elbow into Seungmin's side "That was one time," he says, "Five years ago! Will you never let me live it down!"</p><p>Seungmin replied back just as quickly, and before long the two of them are bickering away in the corner of the room. Jeongin is used to it by this point. He hops across the room, landing on his footrest and settling back, finally letting himself relax.</p><p>"So," Changbin says, leaning forwards, "Chan tells us you've finished school already?"</p><p>"Yep, finished at 3:00 today. Now I don't have to go back for another two weeks. It's gonna be great." </p><p>Hyunjin squints at him. He's got Jisung's ball of wool on his lap, which he holds on for just a few moments too long every time Jisung needs it. "Two weeks? They barely make you kids do any work these days, I swear. In my day-"</p><p>"Wool." Jisung swipes him in the ribs with a knitting needle, effectively getting him to shut up. "No one wants to listen to your stories, old man."</p><p>"Old man?" Hyunjin splutters, "You're not even a year younger than me!"</p><p>"And yet my bones are still twice as strong, so what does it matter?" Jisung grins at Jeongin, "Wool."</p><p>"Both of you, shut up." Minho folds his arms, instantly commanding the attention back to him. He still hadn't sat down, instead having made his way across to the fake Christmas tree in the centre of the room. The eight of them had decorated it about a week ago, having combined seven different sets of baubles and decorations and turning the once-presentable tree into a colourful, sparkly mess. "We've got something important."</p><p>Jeongin didn't actually expect them to listen, but by the way that everyone shuts up, it must be something important.</p><p>He frowns. Why doesn't he know about this, whatever it is? There isn't much that the old men don't tell him, just like there isn't much that he doesn't share with the. Why haven't they told h-</p><p>Oh.</p><p>Minho picks up a large present. Wrapped in glittery paper, tied up with a red ribbon and covered in Christmas-themed stickers. Before Jeongin's mind even has a chance to catch up, it's being passed over to him.</p><p>Seven faces all look at him, grins practically splitting their expressions in half. They'd so excited that it's actually quite amusing, and Jeongin finds himself quite excited. He takes the package, and tries not to think about the fact that this is the first time he's ever received something from someone that isn't his Mom.</p><p>"Thank you," he whispers, because he doesn't quite trust his voice.</p><p>Minho grins at him. "From all of us, Innie," he says, "Merry Christmas."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. figure it out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>for dwaejisungie, who requested 'baby jisung believing santa... idk just any of the members trying to preserve baby jisung's innocence and one of them pretend to be santa to make jisung happy'</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"When is Santa coming?"</p><p>Changbin is currently holding the five-year-old up against the window. There hadn't been a seat nearby, and Jisung had been too impatient to wait for either one of his Dads to go and get one. Instead, he'd practically winded Changbin by jumping onto his lap and asking to be held up.</p><p>He's getting heavy now.</p><p>It's to be expected, it would silly to think that Jisung would stay as a toddler for his entire life, but Changbin can't help but feel like Jisung is growing older in front of his very eyes. He'll have to keep going to the gym if he wants to be able to hold his son up for long periods of time. Even now, after only a minute, his arms are sore and aching. He's pretty sure they're wobbling as well, but Jisung hasn't noticed.</p><p>He's still caught up in staring outside, at the large Santa sleigh passing by their house. His little hands are pressed up against the cold glass, breath fogging up the window so badly that Changbin is amazed that he can even see through it anymore. His eyes are huge and sparkling, not willing to blink for even a second, just in case the scene in front of him decides to disappear.</p><p>"Here." Felix appears by Changbin's side in an instant, finally having arrived back with a chair in his hands. He has to hide his smile behind his hand when he sees how much his husband is struggling, sliding the chair beneath Jisung's feet and snorting when Changbin visibly relaxes now that he isn't holding a five-year-old in the air.</p><p>Luckily, Jisung doesn't seem to notice.</p><p>"Daddy," he says, seeing that Felix has arrived and evidently giving up on getting a response from Changbin, "When's Santa coming? Is it tomorrow? Can it be tomorrow? Please?"</p><p>Felix smiles. He shuffles around to the back of the chair, leaning against Changbin and running his fingers through Jisung's hair. "You know that Santa comes on Christmas Eve, darling. Which one is Christmas Eve?"</p><p>"The twenty-forf." Jisung has stuck one of his hands into his mouth. He's leant far back enough that his breath isn't fogging up the window anymore, and he doesn't need to keep wiping the condensation away. In front of them, the sleigh moves past their house. Santa bends double in laughter, his 'Ho ho ho!' ringing out through the otherwise silent streets. </p><p>"That's right! But today is only the twenty first. You'll just have to be a little more patient."</p><p>Jisung frowns. "I've been patient! I've been patient for <em>months</em>! Three days is like a bajillion seconds, I can't wait that long - I'll die!"</p><p>"Oh no!" Jisung falls to the side dramatically, but Changbin is already ready, catching him easily. "Whatever will be do? If our Sungie dies, he won't be able to see Chan and the others!"</p><p>"That's right," Felix joins in, catching onto the distraction that Changbin is providing, "He won't be able to see his favourite hyungs Minho and Seungmin, will he? Or Chan, or Hyunjin, or Jeongin. What a shame that is. I'm sure they were all really looking forward to seeing him."</p><p>In Changbin's arms, Jisung huffs. He then immediately remembers that he'd playing dead, but can't help scrunching up his face at the thought of not being able to see all their guests.</p><p>Changbin tuts, shaking his head sadly for emphasis, "If Sungie can't make it, that's just too bad. I suppose that all the presents they were just going to bring him will have to go to us."</p><p>Bingo.</p><p>That gets Jisung immediately. He shoots up out of Changbin's arms, with such force that he almost stumbles back off the chair. Felix takes the chair away as soon as he realises that it might cause an accident, and Jisung is back safe and sound onto the floor just in time for him to fold his arms angrily.</p><p>"No! They're my presents!"</p><p>"Oh?" Felix raises an eyebrow, "You'll just have to wait until Christmas Day, then. No dying until after that, thank you very much."</p><p>Jisung pouts. He turns his body away from Felix and back towards the window. He's not quite tall enough to see - the whole reason why Changbin had needed to pick him up in the first place - but when standing on his tiptoes, his eyes just about peek over the sill. </p><p>The lights outside are still flashing. The sleigh has passed their house, the elves walking on each side having moved on to the end of the street. Santa waves as he starts to move, the Christmas music getting fainter as they move further and further away. Jisung doesn't move from the window.</p><p>"I don' want the presents," he says, "I wanna see Santa."</p><p>That... That wasn't what Changbin was expecting him to say. Felix wasn't expecting it either, judging by the identical look of surprise on his face. They make eye-contact for a second, unspoken words passing between them.</p><p>"Sungie," Changbin asks, "What do you mean? You don't want presents?"</p><p>Jisung snorts. "No, of<em> course</em> I want presents. But some of the kids in my class were sayin' that Santa isn't real, so I've gotta prove them wrong! I'm gonna stay up all night, and then I'm gonna see Santa, and-"</p><p>He keeps talking, but Changbin has stopped listening.</p><p>Jisung is <em>five</em>. He might not be physically a baby anymore, but he'll always be Changbin's baby. He's too young to be finding out stuff like that, especially if he still wants to believe. They can't tell him the truth now. It would break his heart, and Changbin would do anything to keep that from happening.</p><p>Jisung is still so <em>young</em>. </p><p>If he wants to believe, Changbin is going to give him one goddamn good reason to.</p><p>----</p><p>Christmas Eve arrives, and the four adults in the room pretend not to see the suspiciously child-shaped shadows in the corridor. </p><p>Minho, Seungmin and Jisung had all been sent to bed about fifteen minutes ago - warned that Santa could be arriving at any second, and that only children that were asleep got presents. It had only taken ten minutes before they'd heard the signature sound of footsteps in the hallway. When Seungmin had almost blown their cover by trying to go to Jeongin for a hug, they'd all pretended to not notice. </p><p>This was the best part of the plan.</p><p>"Gosh," Changbin says, checking his watch, "Chan is taking an awfully long time on the loo. He'll miss Santa if he's not careful."</p><p>"Oh, he'll be a while yet," Hyunjin warns them, "Trust me, Chan is anything but quick when it comes to the toilet."</p><p>They all ignore the baldly-muffled snickers from the corridor in favour of muttering and checking their clocks again. </p><p>Felix had sent the text message off to Chan about a minute ago. Any second now-</p><p>"Ho ho ho!"</p><p>The door swings open right on time, revealing 'Santa' stood in the snow outside. It's obviously not Santa to anyone above the age of ten - Chan's fake beard is slipping off of his chin, and his face is nowhere near as wrinkled as an old person's would be. The costume is quite good though, and the sack slung over his shoulder sets the outfit off perfectly.</p><p>"Santa!" Jeongin says, trying not to laugh, "You got my message! Minho and Seungmin were worried that you'd deliver their presents to the wrong house."</p><p>'Santa' laughs again, clutching his stomach in true drama-kid style. "Needn't worry," he says, "I know everything - of course I wouldn't forget the presents of two boys that are so well-behaved!"</p><p>"Oh?" Chan has forgotten his line, and so Changbin tries to nudge him in the right direction. He raises his eyebrows expectantly when they make eye contact, watching as Chan starts to pull presents out of his sack. "They why were you outside?"</p><p>"Too many mince pies." </p><p>There, that's what they'd been going for. It had seemed a little too much to have someone fit down the chimney, and much too dangerous. Besides, the kids would most likely believe any sort of excuse that came from Father Christmas himself.</p><p>The adults all chorus in understanding, nodding and humming to themselves. In front of them, Chan finishes unpacking the gifts. He stands up, brushing off some of the snow that had fallen onto the wrapping paper and straightening his back.</p><p>"Right," he says, "I can't stay for long, as you know. Only got a billion more kids to deliver presents to - you know how it is!"</p><p>"Of course," Felix says, standing up as well, "My friend - Chan - he'll be disappointed that he missed you. But there's always next year, I suppose!"</p><p>"Oh, definitely!" Chan laughed again, “For such well-behaved boys, there'll always be a next year! Merry Christmas!"</p><p>With that, he stepped back outside and shut the door behind him. There was a pause - and then the sound of bells (that definitely hadn't been hidden outside earlier - rang out. </p><p>Changbin couldn't see Jisung's face, but he could certainly imagine it. The conversation quickly fell back into 'boring adult stuff', and it didn't take long before they could hear three sets of footsteps making their way back down the corridor and up the stairs. </p><p>It had worked. </p><p>Changbin couldn't help but smile.</p><p>As old as Jisung gets, he'll always be Changbin and Felix's baby. And for as long as he wants to believe that the world is pure and good, they'll do anything to protect that innocence. </p><p>It's Christmas, after all. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. honeymoon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>for SunshineBoy_Felix, who asked for 'a one shot about how Felix has a seizure on christmas day'</p><p>hope this okay! </p><p>i had to do some research on seizures beforehand, but i'm definitely not at the level of knowledge where i'd call this depiction 'accurate'. if there are any errors, feel free to correct me so i can edit it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"It's always such <em>bad timing</em>."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan hums in response. Sure, it would probably be nicer to disagree and remind Felix that none of this is under his control, and therefore it can't be he fault. But he'd probably been told that a million times before. Chan saying it for the million-and-first isn't going to change anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And besides. It is bad timing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix flops back onto the sofa when Chan doesn't reply, throwing his arms into the air and groaning loudly. "Literally! I haven't had one for months, but as soon as something important actually comes up!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beside him, Jisung, Hyunjin and Seungmin have some game booted up on a laptop screen. They'd been playing in their rooms - and by playing, Chan means Jisung and Hyunjin are watching Seungmin play - but Minho had dragged them out about half-an-hour ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"It's Christmas Day,"</span>
  </em>
  <span> he'd said, <em>"Don't be unsociable. At least - I don't know - go play in the middle of the living room or something."</em></span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so, they'd done exactly that. Jeongin had been forced to push the Christmas tree into the corner of the room just so he could walk past. Minho was busy in the kitchen - they weren't supposed to be eating for another two hours yet, who knew what he was actually doing there - and Chan and Felix had become trapped in the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Trapped', again, being a very loose definition of the word. They were actually just lounging around and avoiding having to tidy up any of the wrapping paper on the floor. Besides, they'd been there before Hyunjin, Jisung and Seungmin had arrived. They'd even been on their way to leave (and maybe join in watching the game) when Felix had sat bolt upright.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>From in front of them, Jisung glances back. "Yeah, Lix," he says, "This could have happened on a day where we had a really shitty schedule. AKA practically any other day this month."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix groans again, even louder. "Don't remind me. It might not even happen."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd sat up because he could feel something. Chan didn't know what it was like - and he never would, hopefully - but he could still imagine the sensation from the way that Felix had described it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Apparently, it was just... feeling <em>weird</em>. The slightly-off sensation where you know something is wrong. You can't quite put your finger on exactly why or how, but you just know that there's something wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It meant that Felix was probably going to have a seizure. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well," Chan shifted in his seat. "That's what we can hope for. And if it happens anyway, then you know that we'll be prepared."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gets a hum of acknowledgement from practically every person in the room with him. Minho appears from the kitchen as he speaks, Jeongin following behind him like a lost baby duckling. They've got plates of what looks like crackers in their hands, covered in toppings like cream cheese and smoked salmon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Starters!" He announces, completely unaware of the conversation that he'd just walked in upon. And with the distraction of food, everyone else soon forgets about it as well. As soon as Minho puts the plate onto the table, they descend like gannets. Seungmin even goes as far as to shut his laptop, placing it to the side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only two people that don't move are Felix and Chan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix - well, he actually stands up, but doesn't get much further than that. And because Chan had been looking at him anyway, he doesn't move because he sees the way that the blood drains from Felix's face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sit down," he says. There's enough noise that no one else hears what he's saying. It's obviously not bad yet - Chan has no idea how bad is 'bad' really, he has no idea at all about what's going through Felix's mind right no - since he obeys. "Are you okay? Felix?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix's hands are shaking. Chan panics internally, but by the way Felix turns his head, the seizure doesn't look like it's properly started yet. This are just the beginning stages.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"My eyes," he says, " 's all blurry. I'm scared, Chan."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan's spoken to Felix about this before. They've all been instructed on what to do, and so he forces himself to remember the advice that he'd been given. Felix had said that he quite often got scared before a seizure. Not because he was actually scared, but because that's the emotion that his brain was producing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It means that the next stage - what's classically regarded as the actual seizure - is about to happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you going to be okay there?" He means on the sofa. It's important that Felix's head is properly cushioned. The sofa is soft enough for that not to be a worry, but is his rolling over and falling off a concern?  Is getting him to move even an option? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There's nothing tight around his neck, either. Felix had felt the oncoming seizure since pretty early this morning, he had thought ahead and hadn't been so foolish as to accidently try and restrict his own breathing. It's one less thing for Chan to worry about, thank goodness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix opens his mouth. "I-" he says, "I-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He's gone completely pale by now. There's already a sheen of sweat over his skin, and his eyes are large and wide. His mouth opens and closes almost in a gasping motion, and his left arm begins to shake. It starts at his fingers, but quickly travels up his arm until most of his body is twitching and jerking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's not as bad as Chan has seen in before. This isn't the worst seizure that Felix has ever had, which is good due to the lack of actually trained medics here. It doesn't seem like he's going to throw himself off of the sofa. The twitching seems contained to his arms, mostly, and hasn't developed into full-on convulsions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Timer!" Chan calls.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It gets the attention of the boys by the cream cheese and smoked salmon crackers. Jeongin is the first one to pull out his phone. They all instinctually know where the clock app is at this point, and Jeongin has started timing almost immediately after Chan asked for it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hopefully they won't need it. As long as it doesn't last for over five minutes, they should be fine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even if it is the longest goddamn five minutes in Chan's life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, the other members don't move too much closer. They're not frozen by the table, but they know that it's better to give Felix space instead of crowding him. The easier he is to see, the sooner they'll be able to spot if anything is wrong. Besides, Chan is close enough that he can deal with any issues that might arise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With their hearts in their throats, they wait.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>About two minutes after Chan had called for the timer, Felix stops seizing. It feels like much longer, if Chan's being honest, and the complete relief he feels when Felix's eyes finally focus again is indescribable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ch-" Felix says. He might not be able to turn his head to see the other members, and Chan is the only one in his immediate field of vision. "Ch-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seizures often leave him completely wiped out. He's described them as painful - with the largest ones leaving him feeling like he's been hit by two lorries in a row. This wasn't a huge one, but it's likely that he's still exhausted, especially in the first few hours afterwards. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Don't try to speak," Chan says. Felix doesn't respond, but that's normal as well. Chan soldiers on. "We can stay with you until you feel strong enough to get up. Or you can have a nap here, if you'd like."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Not for too long!" Minho calls from the other end of the room, "Don't be missing Christmas dinner, Lix!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix's lips quirk up. He's slowly regaining the colour to his face, and he's already looking more awake than before. He might not be back to his normal energy levels today, as much as Minho would like to have a normal Christmas dinner, but he's certainly going to get close.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thank you."</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. *instrumental break*</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this one's for liseungs, who asked for 2min 'both of them arguing over everything thing during the day, only to end up cuddling at the end of it because of the bfs they are'</p><p>i had like -30 minutes to write today, so i've got to apologise for this. hopefully i'll get to write some 2min in the future so i can make up for the quality of this rip</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span><br/>"He isn't evil," Seungmin says, without even looking up from his laptop screen, "He's Santa. That's like the whole point."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thing about Minho and Seungmin, Changbin has found, is that they're always arguing. It could be two in the morning, and he's sure that they'd still find something to debate. They could have pulled an all-nighter preparing for a performance, and they'd still be bickering as they tried desperately to fight off the sleep. In fact, he's pretty certain that if they slept near to each other, they'd keep arguing in sleep-talk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's weird.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin gets the whole arguing bit, that's not what's so freaky about their relationship. He's argued with his fair share of people before. Jisung currently holds the record for most amounts of fights - both verbal and physical, and some of the other members aren't far behind him. Especially when they were all younger, there wasn't a day that could go by without someone having a disagreement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Minho and Seungmin's arguments are different.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For starters, it feels wrong to even call them arguments. They don't yell or scream, not even getting close to losing their composure. There's bite between their words. Changbin can tell that they're both pushing each other with their responses, just to see how far they can go, but he's never seen the line actually get crossed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Each comeback is just as calm and calculated as the last. It can seem like a debate at times, and if they weren't throwing insults at each other in-between the points, that's exactly what Changbin would call it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And even stranger is the... <em>detachment</em> they have. Whenever someone comes up with a particularly good line, the other often can't stop themself from laughing. Even though it's usually an insult towards them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Weird can often feel like an understatement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, but-" Minho is on his phone, sat at the table and eating a bowl of cereal at the same time. He speaks between chewing on careful mouthfuls, displaying a quality of multi-tasking that Changbin can only dream of. "He's obviously capitalist scum. How often are kids given environmentally friendly gifts, or presents that support smaller companies? In fact, just think of the air miles."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There aren't any air miles. It's a sleigh."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh? And then how are they getting all those presents to the North Pole in the first place? As well as the food supply for the elves and the reindeer - and you <em>can't </em>say that it's home grown in the goddamn arctic."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Easy. I'm assuming that his technology is more capable than ours. There are probably greenhouses underneath the ice that grow all the organic material, or like lab-grown meat."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ha!" Minho looks up for the first time, pointing his spoon at Seungmin accusingly, "So Santa has all this fantastic technology and he's choosing not to share it with the rest of the world? Even with a food crisis? I'm sure all the kids that are starving to death would appreciate Santa's kindness there."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Seungmin is smiling as well. "You're assuming that humanity wouldn't abuse that technology-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin stops paying attention. They can go on like this for hours, and he's not about to get invested in an argument that is based off the actions of someone who isn't even real. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In front of him, Chan walks into the kitchen. He's got his headphones on, but slides them off when he sees the look of desperation on Changbin's face. The other two are still so caught-up in their argument-debate-disagreement that he doubts they even realised that someone else walked into the room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan winces. "Those two are still going?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The look on my face wasn't enough to tell you?" Changbin genuinely thinks he's losing his mind. The only reason that he's standing here is because it's closest to the front door, and he's currently waiting for a delivery. He wouldn't care normally, but it's Christmas presents, and he doesn't trust anyone else not to take a peek at what he's bought them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho had offered to watch the door for him about twenty minutes ago. For a small fee, of course. Changbin is really starting to regret not taking up his offer. It hadn't seemed worth it at the time, but with every minute that passes he loses the will to live a little more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan winces again. "Yikes."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Tell me about it. Jeongin was in here earlier, apparently they'd been going at it for at least half an hour before I arrived as well."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Chan's face scrunches in disbelief, "They've been arguing about whether Santa is a capitalist for... fifty minutes?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's about whether Santa is evil," Changbin corrects him, "And no. They were arguing about whether square pizza is a viable idea when I first got here. No idea what they were on about when Jeongin was there."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Square-" Chan contemplates it for about half a second, before doing exactly what Changbin had done. Giving up almost immediately, and just letting the idea wash over instead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Exactly."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That doesn't make sense!" Seungmin's exclamation is much louder than the rest of the debate, and so catches Chan and Changbin's attention easily. "I can't believe you!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He's also mysteriously disappeared from his position before - perched cross-legged on the kitchen island with his laptop in front of him. His laptop is still there. Changbin frowns, and then turns to check the table where Minho had been sitting. Sure enough, his bowl is now in the sink and his phone has been left by his seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's almost like they've both been Thanos-snapped away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Maybe that would be a good thing - Changbin might actually be able to wait for his parcel in peace and quiet that way)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But no, he has no such luck. Whilst he turned to check on Minho, Chan had taken a couple of steps forwards instead. From their previous position, the living room wasn’t quite visible. But from where Chan was now standing, he had an almost uninterrupted view of the sofa.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Changbin, I can't believe it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin joins him, and - well, what Chan had said certainly wasn't an understatement. The reason that he's still been able to hear their debate is because they're still arguing - just this time,<em> cuddled up on the sofa. </em></span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their voices are certainly softer and more hushed. If you were further away, you might think that they were having some sort of intimate conversation, a discussion about - he doesn't know, the colour of each other’s eyes or something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not Minho and Seungmin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You have to admit that communist Santa would be just as flawed as capitalist Santa," Seungmin says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That's all Changbin needs to hear. "I can't believe it," he says, echoing what Chan had said only a couple of seconds ago. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(And from their position, neither of them can see Minho or Seungmin's faces. They miss the knowing glance that's exchanged between them, and they miss the evil smile that spreads across their expressions)</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>for Handaram, who asked for 'family Christmas preparation like the one u did for halloween but this time with Christmas instead. the kids could bake cookies or hang decorations and chan would probably is baffled and nervous on getting each of them a meaningful gift'</p><p>this would probably take place in the same year as la vie en rose</p><p>enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"They're supposed to be Christmas cookies."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sound of Minho's voice gets Chan's attention pretty easily. He's developed a sixth-sense for when one of the kids is saying something that they possibly shouldn't be, at this point. Even though he's supervising Jisung and Felix at the other end of the table, his ears immediately prick up at Minho's words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They're baking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or, well, they're attempting to bake. Chan hadn't actually planned this activity, which is probably why it's shaping up to be such a disaster. He'd actually wanted them to watch a movie or something - it's Christmas day after all, they could put on any old festive rubbish and the kids would eat it up. It only had to be for an hour, just until his parents came and delivered their presents.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But no. He'd been foolish, leaving chocolate in the kids' stockings. Once he'd turned his head for a moment, they'd all disappeared. Leaving him with seven very hyper, not-calm-enough-to-watch-a-movie kids.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, baking it was. Something engaging, where he could get them all involved, and wouldn't take that long. If it all went well, he could even give some of the biscuits to his parents. They’d appreciate anything the kids made, no matter how misshapen and burnt they'd likely turn out to be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's fes-" Seungmin says, stumbling on the word, "<em>Festive</em>. It's a Christmas dinosaur."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Minho isn't taking any of it. "There aren't any Christmas dinosaurs! Daddy told us to make trees and Santas and snowmen. Not dinosaurs."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's a Christmas dinosaur!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan looks down. Jisung and Felix are working well together, cutting out their shapes as a team. Jisung presses down the cookie cutter, and then Felix presses their lot of dough into a flat shape again. Their tongues are both sticking out from concentration, and Chan reckons they'll be fine for the two minutes that he's gone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Similarly, Hyunjin and Jeongin are working well together - arguing slightly, but just over where they should be pressing the cutters into the dough. Changbin was supposed to be working with them, but has taken his third of their dough to his own area a couple of inches away. His shapes look remarkably neater than anything anyone else has managed to produce.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Again, they're completely fine. The growing problem is that Minho and Seungmin haven't stopped bickering.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Min," Chan says, appearing behind them. They'd been so caught up in their debate that they hadn't noticed him getting closer. Minho almost jumps out of his skin at the sound of Chan's voice. Seungmin just frowns. "And Min number two. Is there something I can help with?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Dinosaurs had winter." Seungmin says. Another child would probably phrase it as a question - something they're not quite sure about - but that isn't Seungmin. He's an expert on dinosaurs, and everything to do with them. "There were actually dinosaurs in the North Pole. That's where Santa lives - so they <em>must </em>have had Santa as well. But Minho says that you can't have Christmas dinosaurs."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho scrunches up his face. He has nowhere near as much of an organised point as Seungmin, so instead folds him arms with twice the amount of attitude. "You said to make Christmassy-themed biscuits! Literally no one thinks dinosaurs are Christmassy apart from Minnie!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll just tell them that they are!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And what if you're not there?" Minho grins, knowing he's victorious. "Then they'll be all like: ooh, who made these biscuits, they're all silly, there weren't any North Pole dinosaurs!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin frowns. "But there <em>were</em>!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They don't know that! And then they'll just think that whoever made them is silly, and that's not true!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ah.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So that's the problem. It's not that Minho doesn't want Seungmin to make dinosaur-themed cookies, but rather that he doesn't want anyone to think any less of his little brother. Something in Chan's heart grows a little larger, and he can't stop the smile from sliding onto his face as he nods along to their points.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay," he says, when both Minho and Seungmin have made their arguments, "How about this? I don't think that we're going to be giving any Christmas dinosaurs away, and I'm sure that everyone in this house would love to learn about North Pole dinosaurs. And if they're still not Christmassy enough, then you can put some Santa hats on when you're icing them. Is that good?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin nods. He was only arguing for one simple point - as long as he got to make dinosaurs, he's happy. It was more Minho that Chan was aiming his explanation at, and his heart leaps in relief when Minho nods just as decisively. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Good." Chan smiles. He pats Minho on the back, and simply makes sure that Seungmin knows that he's pleased with the both of them. "I can leave you both now, okay?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Surprisingly, the rest of the cookie-making session goes exactly to plan. Maybe it's because the kids are all getting older and more independent, but Chan almost feels... unnecessary at points. He solves a couple more disagreements, makes sure that everyone gets equal amounts of turns (the hardest part - no one under the age of six knows how to share properly, apparently), but that's it. They can do most of the fiddly stuff by themselves, even if they still need his help to use the oven.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's... strange. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He's become so used to the kids being reliant on him, that's it's weird to take a step back and actually watch them. He's so used to being involved that he's forgotten how to simply be proud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And proud he is. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His parents are only about fifteen minutes away now. They'd decided to stay over the night - so they can spend more time with their technical grandchildren - which doesn't leave Chan with much longer to get their full attention. And there's just one thing left that he has to do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Kids?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They'd filed into the bathroom to wash their hands, and Chan's quick enough to call out before anyone can escape. He'd been standing supervising anyway, and so they all definitely hear his voice. "There's just one last thing. When you're done, come and join me in the living room?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turns away. Hyunjin and Jeongin had been the first to finish washing their hands, and so trail behind him. "What do you think it is?" Hyunjin asks, as if Chan isn't about three feet in front of him, "Ooh, do you think it's a puppy?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I want a spider," Jeongin declares. "A tararanutula."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin squeals at that. "You'd just eat it!" He says, "You can't eat pets, Innie! That's wrong!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't eat spidies anymore," Jeongin tells him. "They're my friend now. They're waitin' until I become spidie-man."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They then both promptly walk into the back of Chan's legs, because they'd been too busy chatting to realise that he's stopped walking. He gestures for them to take a seat once they've gotten over their shock, and then it's only a few moments before the other kids are storming into the room. Their hands can't be completely clean - there's no way, not with how quickly they'd finished - but he can't bring himself to care. It is Christmas day, after all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The living room is still covered in coloured paper. Piles of gifts have been left in the corners - out of the main walkway so Jisung can still make his way through independently - but instead collecting in huge towers in the places where he doesn't walk. Several look rather precarious, but that's not the point of being here. Instead, Chan pulls out a parcel from underneath the Christmas tree. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Now," he starts, "Don't get too excited. This isn't a toy, and you can't play with it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung frowns. "Then what's the poi-" He doesn't get any further, since Changbin slaps his hand over his mouth, preventing him from making any more noise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan continues. They've lost some of their enthusiasm now that they know it isn't anything plastic and light-up, but they're still curious enough not to have lost complete interest. In fact, Minho slides down off the sofa to get a closer look, and Felix is quick to join him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"When I was a kid," Chan continues, "We had one of these on the walls in the kitchen. My parents would always tell me about the people on it, and it's something that means a lot to me. It's actually still in their house - maybe we can see it at some point - but that's not the point." He takes a deep breath, "The point is-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, it's easier to show than then to tell them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan lifts the lid off the box. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Inside is a framed photo - or, not a photo at further inspection. It's a drawn-out series of lines and photos, linking down until it gets to a set of familiar faces.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A family tree?" Minho says, peering into the box.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But-" Felix glances up at Chan's face, as if he's afraid it's going to be a joke. "That's <em>me</em>."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Underneath Chan's face is a line that stretches out on either side. It's quite long, and splits off into seven different lines directly underneath it. And under them are seven names, accompanied by seven different faces. The seven faces looking back at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It is a family tree, Minho, well done. A family tree of my family."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He lets it take a moment to sink in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Merry Christmas."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hopefully i'll get around to responding to a lot of comments tomorrow - don't think i'm ignoring them, i'll get around to it eventually!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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